Rosaire Nottage

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Partner
rmn@nottawar.com
 

 "a pitbull"
 Chicago Tribune Magazine, 1994 >
 

Why do you practice family law?
I make a difference in people’s lives. Divorce law is immediate and personal and extraordinarily varied. It touches every single thing in a person’s life -- their children, their spouse, their house, their future and their belongings. As an anti-trust lawyer, I spent my days sitting reading documents. The public’s involvement with the legal system is divorce, real estate, and criminal -- in that order. Most of the people you know have been involved with divorce, either themselves or as a child of divorce.

Love & the Law:
I’d advise all people in committed relationships to see a lawyer whether they’re getting married or not. If you’re going to buy and own property together, you have to understand your legal rights. If you were to buy a commercial building with partners, you’d see a lawyer; you’d have a contract so you know what your partners are going to do. It’s no different in a committed relationship -- particularly if you’re not married. If you are going to get married, you need to understand the laws because the government is writing the contract for you. If you like that, okay. And if you don’t like it, consider a pre-nup for how you want things to come out. It’s not planning for divorce, it opens a conversation about expectations and prepares you for reality.

What can clients expect in working with you?
Education and planning. Why the marriage is breaking up and who did what to whom really doesn’t have anything to do with property, custody, maintenance and child support. You’d be amazed how many people say to a client “Oh sure, you want to stay in the house; you’re emotionally connected to the house . . . I’ll get that for you.” But it might not be a wise thing to have the only asset which is a $1.8 million house with a $600,000 mortgage when you’re a single 58-year-old person. Maybe you don’t need that asset, no matter how emotional. What you need is some financial planning because you have 35 or 40 years left on this earth. You need income, you need financial planning. Both sides need that. If you’re single mother at 35 with three kids, you need financial planning because you’ve got to educate them. All of that has to do with the future and isn’t affected by the reasons you’re getting divorced.

What would you say to put them at ease?
I like to tell people I’m like the guide going down the river. I’ve been down the river 5,685 times; you’ve never been down the river. I can prepare you for the journey. That’s what’s calming -- to have a guide. There are going to be rapids. There’s going to be conflict, but most cases settle. Armed with that information, it doesn’t have to be so adversarial. Parts of it do. Breaking up is hard to do. You don’t always smile at each other and shake hands, but you can get through it. You don’t have to get into the adversarial portion of it.

Areas of Expertise:
Our best expertise is as trial lawyers. Although most cases do not go to trial, these are lawsuits, and the fastest way to settle is to be prepared to go to trial.
 

Co-Founded NW:		1988
Adm to Bar:		1976 Illinois, US District Court, Northern District of Illinois and Federal Trial Bar
Edu:		Michigan State University (BA cum laude 1970), Loyola University (JD 1976), Bell, Boyd & Lloyd (Associate 1976-1983, Partner 1984-1987)
Member:		Chicago & Illinois State Bar Assoc. Women’s Bar Association of Illinois

 
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