JOURNAL
Photograph by Bronson Pate.
FEATURED PROFESTSHIOENMAOLNPTROFILE OF
2012
H
40+ Years of Family Law and an Infinite Future in ESI Keep James Hennenhoefer
FULFILLED AND FASCINATED
With the Legal Field
by Jennifer Hadley
J
ames Hennenhoefer, one of San Diego’s most well-recognized family law attorneys, is the first to admit that I “did not choose my area of expertise, it chose me.” In his case, that’s not merely a catchy cliché. As a junior officer in the Navy, Hennenhoefer initially planned a career in federal prosecution. “I was assigned collateral, investigative and legal duties on a major combatant. I really enjoyed the process of investigating criminal activity and the Court Marshal process itself,” he says. But in 1970, when he graduated from law school, he found himself facing a stonewalled system. “There was a massive hiring freeze,” he says. This drove him instead to join a firm that handled primarily personal injury and criminal matters. A “Forced” Niche Becomes a Forte “As the youngest and newest attorney, I was assigned the work that no one else wanted to do at that point. My first task was to handle or resolve a number of family law cases which came to the firm as a result of handling other matters for clients. In 10 Attorney Journal | Volume 106, 2012
short order, I realized that although no one else wanted to do this work, I enjoyed it,” he reflects. “[Family law is] more labor intensive than perhaps any other area of the law and involves handling matters that sometimes involve a person’s entire life. It involves helping people through one of the most difficult