San Diego's Beatrice L. Snider is an anomaly. She's a tough divorce lawyer who for the most part is liked by her fellow attorneys. "You can knock heads with her for a couple of hours in a courtroom, walk out, and she'll smile at you with a wink and say, 'See you tomorrow,'" says Robert Basie, who frequently goes up against her. "Give me a lawyer like that any day."

There are some who say she can be abrasive and combative, but such criticisms seem par for the course when it comes to many practitioners who specialize in high-stakes divorce litigation.

Snider, who has been practicing for 24 years and employs seven staff attorneys, claims to operate the largest divorce firm south of Los Angeles. Her aggressive lawyering skills are matched by a zealous advocacy on behalf of those she believes to be among the victims of failed long-term marriages — middle-aged women who have devoted themselves to being homemakers. In particular, she believes such women are being penalized by the state's no-fault divorce law because of its customary requirement that they eventually must make their own financial way in the world. "We either need to return to fault divorce or go to the other extreme and have terminable marriage contracts that are renewable every five years or so," says Snider. "I tend to be evangelistic about these things."

But Snider also represents men, saying they account for some 40 percent of her clients. She's waged vigorous custody battles for fathers and sought spousal support for husbands. "If the facts are indicative," she says, "it shouldn't matter whether you are male or female." Nonetheless, there are times when it takes an aggressive lawyer to represent a male client effectively. "Men are uncomfortable asking for spousal support," says Snider. "And judges are still reluctant to grant it."