Rita Sanders adds family law division to her firm

by Maria Hoover

Inside Business Editor

mhoover@sbj.net

It's family time for Springfield attorney Rita Sanders. In March, Sanders created the Family Law Center, adding it to her practice, which includes The Ticket Center and The Law Office of Rita Sanders.

With the addition of The Family Law Center, Sanders said she wanted to blend the principles of a Christian law office with the everyday practice of law. Sometimes, she said, that can mean steering couples toward counseling and away from divorce.

"We wanted to have a practice that was a little bit different from the traditional divorce-attorney practice," Sanders said.

Her husband, Wesley Sanders, who recently finished law school, had initially decided to join the firm and focus on family law. However, Rita Sanders said her husband will join the firm and take over The Ticket Center operations, freeing her up to handle criminal felony cases through The Law Office of Rita Sanders.

"She is compassionate and caring and a Christian attorney, and I think we're going to see some great results from that," Sanders said.

The Family Law Center is Speake's first experience in private practice.

"I came from the Greene County Prosecutor's Office. I was the first assistant of the Property and White Collar Crime Unit," Speake said. She has 14 years of experience as a prosecutor, including five in the Greene County Prosecutor's Office.

Speake said The Family Law Center doesn't just handle divorces.

"We handle child support, child-custody issues, modifications, adoptions, name changes, wills ," Speake said. "There's really an overlap, too, because when clients come in on criminal issues, many times that creates stresses within the family, and it's not uncommon for individuals who find themselves in a bad situation on the criminal end to experience stresses in their family which may lead to at least them talking to an attorney about a possible separation or a divorce."

However, Speake said financial problems are the leading cause of divorce in the United States.

To that end, Speake said, she encourages people who are preparing to marry to consider premarital financial counseling, which might include a prenuptial agreement.

"You don't hear a lot of that in the area, but I think it's an excellent precursor to marriage because it makes the couple talk about what they have, what debts they have, are there children involved so they're thinking about more than just the wedding," Speake said. Even if a couple decides against a prenuptial agreement, she added, talking openly about finances is important.

The Family Law Center already has drawn a few clients, Speake said.

"We've had several people come in with regard to orders of protection, (and) we've successfully represented them. We've got some cases pending right now that involve child custody and child support issues. We've had a good response."

Sanders spent 17 years as a police officer. She purchased The Ticket Center from Shawn Askinosie in 2000. In March 2003, she moved her firm to its current location at 215 E. Sunshine.

"Through The Ticket Center we handle traffic tickets, DWIs, misdemeanor offenses things that they would get tickets for but not necessarily have to go to jail for," Sanders said.

Since buying The Ticket Center, Sanders said its business has quadrupled. The Ticket Center has about 700 open cases, although Speake said that's probably a conservative estimate.

The firm requires a retainer fee for all of its services, but Sanders said she's a bit different in that her firm offers payment plans.

"I made that decision when I first opened up the office. I was raised on the north side. I'm one of five children the only one that graduated from high school, let alone went to college and my family was always below the poverty line," Sanders said. "And there are people out there who need attorneys that cannot afford to go in and plop down two or three thousand dollars. They just don't have it, and that doesn't mean they shouldn't have good representation."

Probably 90 percent of the firm's clients are on payment plans, Sanders said.

"I have a contract that they sign. We bill out monthly statements and they sign a contract that if they fail to pay, that gives me the right to withdraw," Sanders said. She will work with clients who are having trouble paying, but she won't dispose of a case by pleading or going to trial until the bill is paid. She does have a few clients, though, whose cases she was able to get dismissed, and those clients are still making payments.

The firm's retainer fees vary depending on the case. Criminal case clients, including those served through The Ticket Center, are charged a flat fee, which varies by case specifics. Criminal case fees are basically divided into pretrial, trial and post-trial, Sanders said. For family law cases, Speake said, clients pay $150 an hour.