David Morneau & Angie: The Client as Consumer, Part 2

You already know more about your own case than any attorney you'll ever hire. The question this second half of the conversation asks is what you're going to do with that.

This is the second half of a single long conversation Lisa and Chris recorded with former family law attorney David Morneau and client advocate Angie, continuing directly from the previous episode. David spent two decades practicing family law in Ontario before moving toward collaborative law and mediation; Angie is three and a half years into her own high-conflict case and joins as what the group calls a test client, someone living the questions this series is built around.

Picking up where the last episode left off, David talks about what it would actually take to reform the family law system, and argues that the fastest lever available to any one person isn't a policy change, it's winning your own case: understanding the process well enough to ask for what you actually need, instead of accepting whatever your attorney or the system hands you. David, Angie, Lisa, and Chris talk through what that looks like in practice: arming yourself with the right questions, staying an active participant instead of a passive client, and treating your own education about the process as part of your case strategy, not a distraction from it.

If the client-as-consumer framing is new to you, the previous episode covers where it started: what to ask an attorney at a first consultation, and the red flags that mean it's time to look elsewhere.

As always, this is strategic education, not legal or mental-health advice for your specific situation.

🎓 What you'll learn

• Why winning your own case is one of the fastest levers you have to change a broken system
• Why arming yourself with education is part of case strategy, not a distraction from it
• Why staying an active, informed participant changes how your case actually goes
• How the "client as consumer" framing applies to retaining an attorney the same way it would to any other major decision
• Why a client who understands the process is harder to overwhelm, including for their own attorney
• Why this conversation continues directly from the previous episode's red flags and questions to ask

Keep going 💜
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll help you map your next steps: https://beentheregotout.com/call
📘 Been There Got Out: Toxic Relationships, High-Conflict Divorce, and How to Stay Sane Under Insane Circumstances — https://www.amazon.com/dp/194627495X
📘 Been There Got Out: When Your Ex Turns the Kids Against You (our parental-alienation book) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967674183
🔗 David Morneau on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmorneaulaw
🔗 Angie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bosslady.to

🎧 More with David Morneau & Angie on this podcast
Ep 5: What to Ask Before Hiring an Attorney
Ep 10: Taking Your Power Back in Family Court
Ep 100: How a Child's Voice Reaches the Judge
Ep 131: How to Advocate for Yourself With Your Own Lawyer
Ep 219: Fear, Emotion, and the Family Law System

About Been There Got Out
Chris Barry and Lisa Johnson are high-conflict divorce, custody, and co-parenting strategists, and the founders of Been There Got Out. They know these cases from the inside: both have successfully represented themselves in family court. Few attorneys have a playbook for a case like this — Chris and Lisa write yours with you, so you and your kids can get through it as unscathed as possible.