Small Firms, Big Lawyers: A Civil Practice « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site – News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law School, Law Suits, Judges and Courts

Small Firms, Big Lawyers: A Civil Practice « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site – News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law School, Law Suits, Judges and Courts

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14 Sep 2011 at 11:46

Small Firms, Big Lawyers: A Civil Practice
By JAY SHEPHERD


Most of my friends are lawyers. Forrealz. To be sure, an increasing number of them, like me, no longer practice. But most of them still do, and I still like hanging with them.

When I would go to Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, or the federal disctrict court across the channel in Southie, I would bump into classmates or colleagues more often than not. Later in my practice, it became increasingly common that I would already be friends with my opposing counsel. Some lawyers don’t like litigating against their friends, but I always did. It made it easier to get things done, and you didn’t have to waste time with unnecessary gamesmanship.

If you already had a level of trust with your opposing counsel, you could skip all the silly things that slow down litigation and make it more unpleasant. Discovery disputes, for example, drop down to zero. Settlement talks start sooner and are more meaningful. Extension requests are automatically given. Cases get resolved faster and easier.

But do you know who doesn’t like it when opposing lawyers are friendly with each other?

Find out who — plus big news about this column — after the jump.


Clients. Clients don’t like to see their lawyers palling around with the other side’s lawyers. It reminds them that we lawyers are hired guns, and that while we care about their position, that care stems from the fees they pay. They hate the other side; they want you to hate the other side’s lawyers.

But that’s silly. And it’s also not the client’s call to make. I once had a client chastise me for appearing too friendly with my opposite number. He told me it seemed unprofessional. I told him that maybe that word didn’t mean what he thought it meant. Professional means doing my job as effectively as possible, which includes working with the other side’s lawyers. Unprofessional means being obnoxious to the other side just because my client wants me to.

A lot of people leave the practice of law because they grew tired of the adversarial nature of the profession. That’s not why I left, but I can understand the sentiment. Unfortunately, too many lawyers think that adversarial means “hostile” or “pugnacious.” It doesn’t; it simply means that there are two sides opposing each other. And opposing doesn’t have to mean “antagonizing.”

I’ve said this several times and several different ways in this column: The reputation you have with your peers is a critically important factor in how good a lawyer you are. It’s as important as your legal-writing skills, your public-speaking skills, and your command of the laws in your field. If other lawyers (and judges, too) think you’re a pain to deal with, then you’re not as good a lawyer as you could be. Or as you think you are.

But if you have a reputation as being someone who fights hard for clients but still is someone people can work with, then you’re a much better lawyer.

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Jay runs Prefix, LLC, a firm that helps lawyers learn how to value and price legal services. Jay Shepherd also spent 13 years running the Boston management-side employment-law boutique Shepherd Law Group. He writes the ABA Blawg 100 honoree The Client Revolution, which focuses on reinventing the business of law, and Gruntled Employees, a workplace blog. Follow Jay on Twitter at @jayshep, or email him at js@shepherdlawgroup.com.

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