Indianapolis Litigation

Your friendly Indianapolis attorney and Partner In Success at Alerding Castor Hewitt, LLP here with another post, this time for both business entities and lawyers who find themselves in the trenches of business law, SaaS law, internet laws, and privacy litigation and probate litigation.  Partner and fellow blogger Dave Castor sort of beat me to the bunch by pointing out a great blog post by Michael P. Alerding (ACH’s Mike Alerding’s father) at Alerding & Co., LLC, which Dave re-posted below.  I encourage all of you to read it if you haven’t already.

Mr. Alerding’s blog is not only great for businesses; it’s good for lawyers, too.  We can debate all day long the chicken and the egg analogy about who is to blame for the “downward spiral” Mr. Alerding mentions.  I propose that a better use of our time would be to recognize the problem and all work collectively as lawyers and business people to resolve it.  Indeed, lawyers have a unique opportunity to help guide their clients to a resolution of issues, and they should feel that it is an obligation to work to get the client to do the “right thing.”  Not only that, we as lawyers should take pride in being able to assist with that process.     

Of course, I am one of those people who believe that words mean something.  But I agree with the implications of Mr. Alerding’s post that the world is getting a little “overly-lawyered” with its legalese.  For instance, if you can say something in 10 words, why use 45 to say the same thing?  Do you have to flex your ego or demonstrate your academic prowess, or are you trying bill that extra time to demonstrate your worth to the client or partners?  Likewise, a deal or agreement should remain a deal or agreement.  So, as lawyers, if we tell another lawyer that we are going to look into something, or make a concession, why do we feel that we aren’t bound if we didn’t put it in writing?  Why do some of us feel like we can play games (like “gotcha”) with an opposing party or competitor?  Why do we as lawyers avoid doing the “right thing” and focus so much on “winning” an argument, or fall back on the excuse “well, I have to be a zealous advocate”?     

All that the one-upmanship mentality or reneging on oral promises does is add to an aura of mistrust in a world that, in the modern age of technology, isn’t that big.  Lawyers, i.e., folks engaged in the business and practice of law, can take away a lot from Mr. Adlerding’s message in our practice and in our counseling of our clients.