Category Archives: Blog

David Bulitt and his wife of 31 years, therapist Julie Bulitt, have accepted a literary contract with Julie Gwinn of The Seymour Agency, a literary firm based in New York. Author of two published fiction novels, CARD GAME (2015) and BECAUSE I HAD TO (2017), David teams with Julie to share their personal and professional experiences in
“SHOP TALK: 5 Core Conversations to Keep Your Relationship Off the Couch and Out of Court”.

What happens when a top divorce lawyer and a family therapist close the door and really talk? What’s on their minds? What makes them laugh, yell, and cry? Who gets the last word?

Married for 31 years, David and Julie Bulitt are that couple. He’s one of the premier DC Metro family law attorneys, having settled and litigated complex, high profile divorce and custody cases since 1986, is the published author of two well-received novels and a frequent guest on local television. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 20 years of experience working with children, teens, and families and the founder of Live Sane, LLC, which has a special focus on dealing with AD/HD. She is also an in-house therapist at Discovery Channel.

Together, David and Julie have seen up close families struggling with life’s most difficult challenges, including addiction, infidelity, mental health diagnoses, learning disabilities, abuse, serious illness, estrangement, and trauma. At the same time, they have weathered their own challenges at home, raising four daughters, two biological and two adopted, and dealing with one child’s mental health and behavioral issues, including eventual addiction and running away.

What they’ve learned about saving a marriage, keeping a family together, or knowing when to call it quits, when to turn to professionals or when to try tough love, could fill a book — and it does. Shop Talk tackles every corner of relationships with the wisdom, knowledge, and best advice culled from David and Julie’s unique experiences. Drawn from notes of their discussions, chats, arguments — not always sober — and frank, funny stories, it openly tackles the basics from getting along, to parenting, communication, and sex, as well as hard-to-discuss issues like addiction, infertility, pornography, and family silence. Shop Talk takes you inside how these two professionals hash out some of life’s toughest personal challenges, revealing what they really think and say to each other.

Stay tuned on news and updates as Julie Gwinn and The Seymour Agency work to find SHOP TALK a publishing home!

The Dating Advisory Board’s Jen Hecht interviewed Joseph Greenwald & Laake principal attorney David Bulitt for an online video segment discussing how people can apply successful business techniques in their personal relationships. During the interview, David discusses the ins-and-outs of divorce law and some of the themes that he tends to see in his legal practice. David also discusses his second book, Because I Had To, published in January 2017.

The Dating Advisory Board is an online vlog hosted by Hecht that takes real-world business strategies from many industries to show how they can be used to create a dating strategy. The goal of the website is to empower women to approach their lives and the dating world with passion, clarity and conviction.

David Bulitt is a family lawyer, and JGL’s Assistant Managing Director. For years, David has been included amongst the DC area’s top divorce lawyers and is a published author.

Click here to learn more about David’s legal and writing careers in this web show interview.

As both a family law practitioner and a parent who has a child with an opioid addiction, I have, for many years now, had a front row seat to the damage that drugs can do to a family. Some years ago, we would encounter opioid addiction in a divorce case only occasionally. However, as the scope of this epidemic has grown in Maryland, so has its prevalence in child custody, divorce and in other family law matters. The good news is that Maryland was an early adopter of programs that work to not only enforce laws, but rather to coordinate teams of professionals to help families struggling with drug addiction.

Drug Treatment Court gives addicts an opportunity for treatment instead of prison. Family Recovery Court works to reunite families by helping parents who have had had their children taken away. Both programs have been in place since about 2004, but have become even more important with the growth of the opioid crisis. The courts will offer sanctions and terminate the program if necessary, but the focus is clearly on helping participants who are serious about turning their lives around.

By creating a collaborative group around each case, the court can monitor and guide every step of recovery. Each is a voluntary program that includes random, frequent drug testing, intensive outpatient or inpatient care and frequent court appearances. Many individuals who have drug addiction issues also suffer form mental illness. The “dual diagnosis” individuals can be particularly hard to treat. The overall treatment approach is to focus on getting the patient clean and helping them rebuild their lives – from mental health, to parenting and job skills training.

Drug Treatment Courts operate across Maryland and Family Recovery Courts are now in place in Harford, Baltimore, Charles and St. Mary’s. Counties.

In Maryland, and in similar programs across the country, rates of success have been high, with low recidivism. Many families every year are regaining their lives, while the cost to taxpayers is far less than that for foster care and prison. As one might imagine, I am hoping this trend continues and continues to expand throughout Maryland and the nation.

BECAUSE I HAD TO 2017 ‘Tour at the Shore’ visits Drifting Grounds Coffee House in Bethany Beach and The Avenue Inn in Rehoboth Beach. Next stop – Bethany Beach Books, August 4, 5:30-6:30pm