On Evan Schaeffer’s blog, the pseudonymous junior associate “Stan Stankowski” tells a ribald tale (which may or may not be true or exaggerated) of dealing with a foul-mouthed plaintiff’s attorney who demonstrates that it’s not just defense attorneys who can be obstructionist.
My first thought was that this was just a case of a more experienced attorney trying to take advantage of his less experienced counterpart. But there may be a different dynamic at play. I dealt with one plaintiff’s attorney whose modus operandi seemed to be to adopt an extraordinarily combative and hostile and distasteful tone on the simplest of negotiations, with regular threats of motions for contempt, revocation of pro hac vice, and sanctions. As best as I could speculate, he was trying to create a principal-agent problem for the defense, by making the life of defense counsel litigating the case so unpleasant that they would seek to protect their own interests—by settling this case unfavorably but quickly and instead spending their time litigating some other case with a more gentlemanly opposing counsel—rather than those of their client. That wasn’t a strategy that was going to work with me or my colleagues on the case, but I could see how it might have success with other attorneys, especially judging by some of the class settlements that were achieved in at least one other case, where plaintiffs’ attorneys ended up with a significant majority of the money paid out.
One Comment
Ted,
Amazing how well-reasoned your analysis of the jerk’s negotiating style is. I would have thought it was less cerebral on his part:
– I am a jerk to people
– When I am a jerk, sometimes they give me what I want
– Being a jerk pays
– When someone acts like a jerk back at me, I will throw a tantrum, but I know that I am dealing with another jerk. Therefore, I will be forced to negotiate like a reasonable person
I don’t like lawyers who act that way, but I understand they are out there, and I may from time to time have to deal with them.
Interesting is when the Jerk’s behavior is impeding his own interest – when the client is being harmed by the Jerk’s unwillingness to cooperate or communicate. Then, the Jerk may be out of a job if you can alert the client to the Jerk’s counterproductive (disloyal?) behavior. Best way to do that: show up the Jerk in front of the client. Best way to do the best way: get a judge to scream at the Jerk. This should be easy; give the Jerk an opening.