Susan Myres, a senior partner at Texas firm Myres & Associates, this month took office as president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, an organization with more than 1,600 fellows across the country. Myres practices family law in Houston and the surrounding area.

As Myres' term begins, Texas Lawyer checked in with her on some of the issues that are top-of-mind for family lawyers navigating a new and ever-changing landscape.

Editor's note: Myres' answers have been edited lightly for style and length. 

How long have you been involved in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and what do you hope to accomplish during your term?

I became a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in 1998, and now I am the first female president of the academy from Texas.

The academy presents an unparalleled opportunity for our members to network, to learn from each other, to support each other and to make some of the best friends they will ever have. My goals for my year as president may be overly ambitious! I want to finish refining the strategic plan we adopted in 2018, but above all, I want our excellent programming to meet the needs of—and be accessible to—more lawyers.

You have practiced for three decades. What has changed about family law and are those changes positive?

Family law has changed radically during my 30-plus years of practice in Houston. The practice of family law exists right at the point where all the social changes in our rapidly evolving society collide. Think about it for a minute: The practice of family law is deeply affected today by new kinds of marriages and family structures and new methods of reproduction. Same-sex marriage and divorce are now a reality. Families may consist of two moms, two dads, his, her and their children—many variations. Nor is a male partner in a heterosexual union always the primary breadwinner anymore.

The law is almost always behind when it comes to scientific developments. Consider frozen embryos, in-vitro fertilization and surrogates who carry someone else's child to term. The law varies widely across the different states and does not yet adequately address any of these issues.

We also live in a global community now, and family lawyers may have to deal with a marriage or a divorce that took place outside of the United States or parties within one family with multiple citizenships. While the overall divorce rate has fallen in the United States, divorce among Americans over 50 is rising. What we call "elder divorce" presents a whole suite of unique problems and issues.

Mental illness, addictions [and] children with special needs are all [matters] that may have to be addressed in the course of a divorce. Just to offer a single example, think of the struggle that ensues during a divorce when one parent believes vaccinating their child is dangerous and the other insists that the child must receive vaccinations to be healthy.

How has technology affected your practice?

Advances in technology have led to huge changes. Once upon a time, if someone suspected a spouse of committing adultery, he or she might hire a private detective who would trail the possibly errant spouse and take pictures. Other than acquiring photos or finding a trove of love letters or suspect credit card payments (think charges to Victoria's Secret or Tiffany & Co.) hidden in a secret desk drawer, that was about all that could be done. We now leave an enormous trail behind us everywhere we go in terms of social media. Every passing emotion is immortalized in a text, an email, a post on Facebook or Instagram or on a personal or business website, in a blog, etc. If every conceivably relevant text, tweet, post or email is to be gathered up in a divorce proceeding, the cost of discovery alone will be monumental. How and where do you draw the line?

Divorce can be stressful for the parties. How about for the lawyers? What do you find most stressful and most complicated about your practice?

A family law practice is complex and challenging. We see the best and worst of people. The intensity takes a toll on those who cannot maintain perspective on what is within our control and what is not. We are called upon to fix enormous messes that we did not create and rectify harms for which the law affords inadequate remedies. But we also see survivors turn the corner, parents rise above hurt and do what is best for their children, and judges dispense well-deserved justice to wrongdoers. The attorney has to be the one who remains clear-headed and objective, no matter the circumstances.

The academy is a great source of support for fellows. If a family lawyer is having difficulties, who else but other family lawyers will really understand and provide good advice?  It's also important not to skimp on self-care, whether that be a rousing game of touch football, a yoga class, a day at the spa, or just reading a good book. Professional help should be embraced, not avoided. You have to find what fills your energy and emotional bank and stock up.

Gun safety is such a big issue. Is your organization considering standards to protect parties when tempers can get heated?

Gun safety and protection from violence are complex topics that require thorough understanding and consensus building free of rhetoric. The academy is well-situated to bring constructive solutions to the forefront. What group is better suited to accomplish this task than professionals who represent both AK-47 aficionados and persons who abhor all weapons of any description? We represent both the occasional hunter and the long-suffering victim of domestic violence. During my year as president, we are initiating the education of our fellows on this complicated matter, exploring tools for protection that suit the facts of individual cases, and developing wise counsel for legislators and law enforcement agencies. We all have the same goal—to keep people safe, especially during the highly vulnerable and emotional time of a family reconfiguration. Our children and their children do not deserve the legacy recent events are creating for them.

What advice would you give a law student thinking about family law? Would you recommend it and why?

When a law student tells me he or she is considering going into family law, I ask, "Why?" If the answer is something along the lines of "to help people, to help families going through a divorce, to protect children," I suggest they go into politics or public policy, or reconsider law school and pursue a doctorate in social work or another profession whose primary purpose is to accomplish these goals.

I don't mean you can't help families and children in a family law practice. You certainly can, but at times achieving these laudable aims may be frustratingly beyond your control. "Family" law also requires a very broad array of knowledge, extending deep into other areas of practice. A family lawyer needs to be a specialist with a generalist's knowledge of every aspect of the law—and other disciplines that affect families—including, but not limited to, real estate, business entities and transactions, personal and corporate taxes, jurisdictional conflict, constitutional law, commercial paper, finance, employee benefits, administrative law, school law, international issues, including immigration, personal injury law, child development, interpersonal relationships, the technology of artificial reproduction, and addiction diagnosis and treatment.

Obviously, the best candidate to become a family lawyer is someone who is intellectually curious and capable of absorbing a lot of information. Since she can't know everything about everything, she also has to be skilled at developing a network of talented experts in all of the above fields who can be called upon when needed.