Texas Lawyer
October 15, 2002
Volume 18, Number 33
Mike McCurley
Managing Partner
McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley & Nelson
Dallas
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In 1973, Mike McCurley went through a divorce, and it changed not only his life, but also his career. McCurley was a civil litigator. But he says he found that divorce lawyers at the time just weren't very good. So he became one.
"When I began practicing it, it was sort of the necessary evil, or the almost bastard child at the Sunday reunion of law practice," McCurley says. It was not considered worthy in Texas of being a legal specialization, and he says few if any lawyers at the time saw it as their sole or primary practice.
That's changed, of course. And McCurley grew with the changes. Now on family matters such as divorce and child custody, McCurley is the "Go-To" family lawyer for a wide variety of high-profile clients including professional athletes, captains of industry, tycoons, corporate officers and their spouses. And he doesn't practice only in Texas. Within the past year, he says he has handled cases in New York, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Arizona and Georgia.
McCurley is a 1972 graduate of Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Among his professional affiliations, he is a charter member of the board for the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and has served as president for the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Many assumptions of divorce law have changed since McCurley began, many of them related to changes in the American family unit. He says it used to be a "forgone conclusion" that children in a divorce would be given to the mother, with the father getting visitation rights, an outcome that is not as prevalent as it once was. Women with more earning power - and men no longer so dominantly in charge of finances for most families - have created litigation issues, as well, he says. Families are more mobile, and there are more battles over the relocation of parents who have custody of children.
"There is no other area of law that is more "people law" than this," McCurley says of his work. And the people involved are often hurt, injured and fragile. To that end, he says he is "passionate" about helping in ways that go beyond court.
"Get the job done, win the lawsuit, that's the most simplistic," McCurley says. "But at the same time, you have to help that client get through that process. If you don't, you may win the battle and lose the war."
