Hannah Sommers grew up in Kansas City, then went to University of Missouri for Broadcast Journalism. She learned it was not the field for her, but the job helped hone her questioning and writing skills. Law School presented a different way to write, law writing being more repetitive than journalistic writing. “It’s been kind of fun to evolve as that kind of writer,” Hannah Sommers said. The schedule she found in journalism drove her to change careers. She finds law to be a much more rewarding industry, in that her time and hard work is well rewarded.

Sommers clerked at a personal injury firm in law school. In 2013, she started at Slowiaczek Albers where she found herself working in family law. She was surprised to find out family law entered the courtroom. In the beginning of 2021 Sommers began at Nebraska Legal Group. Family law sounds like a warm, fuzzy field, but is filled with conflict and dealing with people at their most volatile. Sommers found family law to be a good fit for her due to the way she carefully processes information before making decisions, and her ability to remain calm under fire. There is no victor in divorce law, and it presents a different approach than other areas. There are no winning facts or slam dunk arguments, it’s a field of mediation and cooperation between both parties.

The broad scope of divorce law keeps Sommers interested. When divorce lawyers work with business owners, they must get financial experts to analyze tax returns, bank statements and assets, and decide what that business is worth in order to properly allocate assets and debts. Lawyers find themselves dealing with real estate, real estate appraisers and personal property appraisers. They must be able to work with different types of income for calculating child support. They work at teaching people how to manage their expenses; teaching them ways to support their kids through a divorce; finding proper therapists. Lawyers need to divide or allocate life insurance policies; whether one will have to maintain life insurance to cover their support obligations. They trace back premarital assets and determine whether the growth was actively or passively acquired in the marriage.

Sommers understands people pay by the hour for her type of work and it’s important to keep clients’ priorities in line. It’s valuable to know which path is worth the clients’ time and which is a waste. Sometimes the strongest position to take is not responding to everything, though there can be penalties when responses aren’t filed in a timely manner. “It’s a fun mental exercise strategizing how you’re going to see your case through when it gets wiry,” Sommers says. Communication is something Sommers takes very seriously. Being a journalist, she is used to constant emails and phone calls. She tries to be available for her clients whenever she is needed. Sommers works hard to stay up to date on new changes to the law from the supreme court or state level. “That’s the best benefit to clients in our area, staying current on news and not falling off,” Sommers says, “It’s all about the time you put in.”