Friday, 18th September am, Century Park: LA law
We meet with one of LA’s top divorce lawyers, Stacy D Phillips, to hear about divorce and Proposition 8.
She’s a real powerhouse – named one of the Top 50 women in Los Angeles law – and has represented many celebrity clients in their divorces: Bobbi Brown (ex-Mr Whitney Houston); Darcy LaPier (ex-Mrs Jean Claude Van Damme); and Erin Everly (ex-Mrs Axel Rose).
We wanted to talk to her about divorce rates in California being especially high, about how she feels about divorce (it turns out she’s divorced herself, and an absolute advocate if it gives you the oomph to make life better) and about the passing of Proposition 8 (Californians were recently given the option to vote for or against gay marriage being legal in the state. They did, and they banned it, to the shock of many – and the disappointment of Ms Phillips. She does, however, feel that this is not the last we have heard of the matter).
The wall in her huge, corner office is covered with accolades and photos with Clintons and Gores. Stacy is fiendishly bright, and has often been honoured for her services to womenhood – she’s very good at 
playing a man’s game without sacrificing anything of her feminity. I was in awe from the get go. She obviously sees a lot of acrimony in her line of work, but equally, being able to offer empathy as well as counsel is valuable in the field of divorce law. She says that divorce is extremely painful, but that it is not necessarily a bad thing to do: it offers individuals a chance at happiness, it can be incredibly liberating once the initial pain has passed, and she delights in setting her clients up with friends.
She is author of the book Divorce: It’s All About Control, in which she details the 6 causes that she sees of divorce:
- Money
- Children
- Health
- Loss of love/intimacy
- Growth (professional or personal)
- Fear (physical, emotional, psychological)
It’s true that divorce is not always a bad thing, and it was very refreshing to hear it from her. It made me wish that we had had more success at finding someone in California – a Liz Taylor type – who had been divorced countless times. The challenge now will be to find one in the more Catholic South America…
