So, today, I was having a conversation with my friend Peter.

As a prologue, those of you who read the blog frequently understand I am looking to represent women who are victims of domestic violence, because I believe the system does a terrible job of addressing the problem. And what that means, in short, is I am going to spend a great deal of time in the world of protection orders, divorce and custody.

Now, when I told my mother what I was thinking of doing (and I apologize if I'm repeating this), she said, "Oh, Michael, don't do that. All my friends who are married to lawyers, as soon as they say their husband's a lawyer, will say, 'But he doesn't do divorces!'"

I mean, let's admit it. The term "divorce lawyer" doesn't exactly sound as selfless as, say, "firefighter," "Make a Wish volunteer," "humanitarian aid worker," "missionary for Christ." Indeed, even I opened a paper I wrote for a writing credit last year thus:

It is hard to imagine a professional in American life today who gets less respect than the divorce lawyer. Seen as a shark feasting on the misery of his or her client’s soon-to-be ex-spouse, these conniving creatures are thought of as willing to go as low as possible to exact an extra pound of flesh for their client. All this in the name of a hefty retainer and another notch in the attorney’s belt.

You think divorce lawyer, you think of some slimy little guy rubbing his hands and saying, "Ahhhh -- a marriage is coming apart! Let me run around under it and see what money I can find to spend on my next cruise to the Mediterranean."

So, I've been pretty good at the semantics of this. I tell people I want to represent victims of domestic violence. I don't say I'm a divorce lawyer.

Well, when I told Peter this, he said, "No. You're spinning. You are a divorce lawyer. It's what you do. Do it well, and be proud of it."

I have to admit, it's a pretty good point. What am I? I'm a lawyer. What will much of my work be? Divorces. OK, so, you put those two together?

I'm not doing it because I enjoy seeing people who thought they'd live their lives out together forever get bitter and angry at each other. I'm not doing it because I like dealing in misery.

I'm doing it because I've seen how bad the system deals with it and how much the bad guys can get away with, and because I'm completely pissed off and want to make things happen. It's what I'm passionate about.

So, I guess this means my mom can just start saying that I do handle divorces.

Because I am, after all, a divorce lawyer.