Modern Divorce - The Do-Over For A Better You

Meet Katie Stapleton

May 12, 2022 Attorney Billie Tarascio Season 4 Episode 8
Modern Divorce - The Do-Over For A Better You
Meet Katie Stapleton
Show Notes Transcript

Modern Law's current family law attorneys happen to all be female - and so many rockstars are in that group. One of those rockstars is Katie Stapleton, who loves taking those messy, impossible divorces where everybody disagrees and turning it into an agreement where everybody agrees. But when staying out of the courtroom can't be avoided, Katie loves the challenge of standing up for clients in court and making them look good. 

If you're shopping for the right attorney - even if Katie is not your champion - it pays to listen to today's podcast just to compare so you can find the right kind of person to stand up for you in your divorce.

Billie Tarascio: [00:00:00] Hi, this is Billie Tarascio with the Modern Divorce podcasts joined today for another really fun episode today, you get to meet Katie Stapleton. Katie is a family law attorney with Modern Law, and she's sincerely one of the most fun and interesting people. So Katie, welcome to the show. 

Katie Stapleton: Well, thank you so much. It's great to be here. 

Billie Tarascio: Absolutely. So, Katie I don't even know where to start. Talk to me about your upbringing. Where are you from?

Katie Stapleton: I Know there's so much, right? So I'm originally I'm [00:01:00] from the east coast, which doesn't surprise a lot of people because I tend to be very forward and abrupt sometimes. So, but I'm from the east coast, grew up in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania group.

Great Amish Pennsylvania style, Dutch cooking. So that's great. And went to Massachusetts for college and did my undergrad there. And then I came out to Arizona to go to law school. So I'm kind of in new England, east coast kid transplanted to Arizona. 

Billie Tarascio: Very very cool. Now, one of the other really interesting things about you is you were raised by a single mom.

I was. Yep. Yep. And it's a lot of lawyers who can say that it's, it's a really cool thing. 

Katie Stapleton: It is. And I think that's one of those things that really helps you even appreciate I'm I'm all about women empowerment and female empowerment. And I think that that's one of the reasons [00:02:00] why so it's definitely given me a unique perspective.

Billie Tarascio: Absolutely. So when did you come out to Arizona? 

Katie Stapleton: 2014 is when I officially moved here. I came out for like a month or two. It was supposed to be a temporary kind of thing, just to see how it was out here. Kind of get a break. And, and before going to law school in Boston and I came here, fell in love with it and never went back.

Billie Tarascio: What did you do for fun when you were a kid? 

Katie Stapleton: So much I was into theater. So I was definitely one of your, your theater kids and I loved being outdoors. I think a lot of east coast people have that in common. But I was pretty involved in sports and extracurriculars. I swam on swim team year round.

So that was fun. Just, just a lot of different areas and eclectic pace. 

Billie Tarascio: Absolutely. 

I could tell when I first met you [00:03:00] early on that you probably had a theater background and I, I think it's helpful for lawyers. 

Katie Stapleton: Absolutely. I would agree with that for sure. 

Billie Tarascio: A lot of what we do is storytelling and presenting and becoming different people.

And it feels sometimes a little bit like acting like improv, 

Katie Stapleton: you know, it absolutely does. And it's one of those things where in enacting or in theater, You know, you'll be in a musical or you'll be in a show and something doesn't go as planned. And that doesn't mean that you, you stop. It means that you keep going and roll with the punches.

I did ballet for a while and you know, if, if your hat falls off, You have a costume malfunction, you don't stop. You keep going. And it's very similar in the courtroom. 

Billie Tarascio: Absolutely. I could not agree more. I also was a singer. I remember having, you know, mishaps, like things didn't always go, right. You'd have a performance and like, you know, you'd miss [00:04:00] something or it didn't come out the way you want it to.

Or the music was like, you couldn't hear it quite right. And like, you just had to put on a smile and go forward. And that is so similar to what we have to do with lawyers. 

Katie Stapleton: Absolutely 100% agree. 

Billie Tarascio: So where do you live? 

Katie Stapleton: So I live in Peoria right now. I am in, it's really in the middle of nowhere, but it's 3 0 3 in happy valley.

So I'm out in the middle of nowhere. Just bought a house recently, so loving it out there and live there with my two dogs. I have a European great Dane named Othello and. He's about 200 pounds. And then I have a red nose pit bull named Cora, and she's about 75. So have a lot of dog. 

Billie Tarascio: They love you. They love you so much. I've been to your house. And when, when you walk in, it's like the dogs are like, are you do you belong here? 

Katie Stapleton: Right? Right. Exactly. 

Billie Tarascio: Are we okay with this? What do you think mom? You're a great cook. That's [00:05:00] another thing I know 

about you. 

Katie Stapleton: Well, thank you. I try and follow recipes. I say, you know what, if you can follow a cookbook and you can read, you'll be okay, 

Billie Tarascio: nice.

What is your favorite type 

of food? 

Katie Stapleton: So I really love baking. And I think that is that's something that I learned from my mom. So I know she used to bake and do a lot with that. And so she would always make cakes. And then when baking them. You know, when she's mixing it together. One of the things she would say is you mix in good thoughts and like good positive vibes.

And then that goes to whomever you are, you're giving the baked good to or whatever. So I take a lot of joy in doing that. So that's fun. 

Billie Tarascio: She sounds fun. Yeah. 

Katie Stapleton: Yep. That's great. 

What types of family law cases do you find are your. 

So that's tough because there are so [00:06:00] many that differ in so many in varying ways.

And there's a myriad of cases and they all are not one case is the same. So family law is not a one size fits all. It is definitely tailored to the individual. So I generally do like dealing with parties that can be contentious. I do. It's not that I would feed off the drama in any way, but I think that as, as attorneys, part of our job is to manage realistic expectations while also advocating for our clients to the best of our ability.

And that's something that. Take pride in and I find joy in so definitely cases where there are kids involved. Those are things that I like to be involved in. And, and those are things that I like to litigate. I also like cases that appear very contentious and then I'm able to help facilitate settlement.

I was certified in mediation and law school. So it's [00:07:00] one of those things that I think. Extremely rewarding and is often very valuable to the parties. So it's kind of a two hat system because on the one hand I love the litigation. I, I do like being in a courtroom, not going to lie about that. It is kind of like a stage, so, but you know, you're, you're in the courtroom and I, I love that aspect, but then I also love the ability to further help my clients and facilitate any type of mediation.

Whenever it's appropriate. Of course 

Billie Tarascio: it can't always be done, but I totally agree with you. It is the high stakes, high conflict cases where we're able to make the biggest impact. And so it's not like I agree with you. I don't feed off drama, you know, certainly it's nice to help people come to their agreements, but there's not a lot of value.

We're not offering as much value in those cases as we are in the cases that nobody's anywhere near. Where they need to be, and then we [00:08:00] can either bring it over the finish line either by facilitating a complex agreement or taking it to trial. 

Katie Stapleton: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Billie Tarascio: What made you want to do family law? 

Katie Stapleton: So I interned and then I was, I involved in different types of law before stumbling into family law.

And I, I interned in Pennsylvania and I did probate for a while. And that it was, you know, honestly kind of a depressing situation because the attorney that I was in had black folders and blue folders. And I was like, oh, is this the color coding system? And she's like, no, the black ones are for clients that are dead.

So that I was not great to be around every day. So I knew what I didn't want really, as far as that. And then in law school, I actually was part of a program. It was a type of pro bono situation where we would offer guidance or, you know, help in, in some way to people who were going through [00:09:00] family law type issues.

And that was just something where I felt that I could really Excel in and You know, then taking a family law course in law school, not all courses prepare you of course, for real practice, as we all know. But I, it was definitely something and in a culture in which I found that I thrived.

Billie Tarascio: Absolutely it's people.

It is, it is, it is people law. It's dealing with personalities. And I love that sociological nature of that. So that's important for us all to know and be aware. 

Let's see, before we wrap up today, what are three weird facts about you? 

Katie Stapleton: Oh boy, putting me on the spot here. So three weird facts about me.

Okay. So three weird facts. I would say about me. The first one I would probably be, I love to travel and I typically like to travel alone. How that seems or may at first glance appear scary. I actually [00:10:00] find it very rewarding. It's my way of kind of recharging and getting in touch with, with myself, with nature, with, with history, which I love.

And I've, I've gone quite a few places by myself. I typically stay in hostels. So it's, it's a pretty fun experience. Not one that people generally assume, but I think it's, it's a fun time. I've been to China. I've been to Scotland Ireland. I've been around France and Italy. So it's been a fun time doing that.

But I do think it, it qualifies as an odd thing about me just because most people are, you know, think that travel is only rewarding if you go with somebody, but I think it's great when you go with yourself. So that would, that would definitely be one weird fact or something about me. The second one I would say is maybe this is more common, but I do tend to watch like horror movies to decompress.

Crime Podcasts. I love like law and order, and [00:11:00] that's just a way of decompressing, which is, is somewhat strange. But at the end of the day, I mean, it's, it works. It's perfect. And then the other one would be, I do love, I kind of nerd out over like Harry Potter and stuff like that, which is, you know, odd as an adult, I think, but I, I love Those those types of books and things like that.

So I would say that those are three types of many, not main line type of things about me. 

Billie Tarascio: I love it. I love it. So we've got traveling alone, hostels, which hostels I think is like super weird 

Katie Stapleton: is it is, but it really ties in with the. I mentioned the sociological aspect of, of being an attorney before, and it ties into that in a way, because when you're in a hostile and you are alone, you don't have a choice, but to make friends with the people that you are with.

And I have an extroverted more ebulliant personality anyway. And so I find that to be extremely rewarding and I still have [00:12:00] friendships with people that I met in hostels years ago.

Billie Tarascio: So cool, katie, thank you so much for joining me for this episode. I know that your clients and potential clients are just going to love getting to know you and I have enjoyed this.

So thank you so much for coming on the show today. 

Absolutely. Thanks for having me have a good rest of your day.