Family Law requires a balance. My role as advocate is basically to take the law as I understand it and build a story around it with the facts of the case presented by the evidence and my client. As an advocate, I build a narrative about case. I take my client and the other side, warts and all, and build a story about what has happened in their lives and what that tells the Judge about probable futures.
I use this analogy often: every year I go to my doctor and he tells me to exercise more and lose ten pounds. This is like my role as counselor, telling my clients how act to achieve their goals. But then, after that, my doctor takes me as I have really lived and works to keep me as healthy as he can. My role as advocate is like this second step with a doctor. I take the way you really lived and try to help you and the Court fit that into your goals.