Video Transcript: What inspired you to become a family lawyer?
Dan Couvrette: Hi, I’m Dan Couvrette, the publisher of Family Lawyer Magazine and divorcemag.com. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Kristin Trutanich as part of a series of interviews that I’m doing with top family lawyers across America.
What inspired you to become a family lawyer?
Kristin Trutanich: After a little over 13 years with the district attorney’s office I was prosecuting some of the most violent crimes that were committed in LA County and I was looking for something more, something different in my career and I have two young kids.
I did at the time and Janine Frisco my partner is the one who basically took me from the criminal field and brought me into the family law field. She was a mentor of mine 20 years ago when she was actually with the District Attorney’s office, and I was in college, and we’ve stayed in touch and Janine actually was my divorce attorney when I was divorced from my first husband and so I’ve been through the process, and I really felt like if I wanted to try something in a different angle of the law, I still wanted to have that feeling of helping someone through a difficult time.
I enjoyed being a district attorney because I felt like I was serving the community. I was representing the people of the state of California, and I was helping victims oftentimes through some horrific tragedies that they had in their lives that they didn’t have control over.
I took that part of my career and transitioned it to family law, where I’m still helping people through some of the most difficult times of their life. I’m helping them transition to a whole new life. So, a lot of the skills and the advocacy that I enjoyed as a district attorney I’ve now taken to the family law practice, and my time that I’ve spent in a courtroom has served me well in family law and served my clients well.