Tenth Anniversary Post: Melissa Kucinski on the Future of IJA—Family Law Edition
Melissa Kucinski
Posted on January 18, 2021
I am truly honored to write this guest blog post celebrating the anniversary of Letters Blogatory. Ted asked that I provide my thoughts on the future of international judicial assistance in the field of family law. I struggled writing this blog post, because nearly every family lawyer would immediately ask, “what is international judicial assistance?” Family law is one of the best examples of a purely domestic legal practice. Outcomes are achieved in local courts and focus heavily on the family’s local experiences. U.S. family court jurisdiction is typically based on a family member’s local connections. For most family lawyers, when a client from another country walks in our door, it is exciting and exotic… and way above our paygrade. Perhaps I am exaggerating.…