Posts Tagged ‘divorce attorney’
Some individuals suppose that being represented by an aggressive lawyer will help them get a better outcome in their divorce case. There are some situations that call for aggressive client advocacy, but persistent aggressive behavior by an attorney can result in a protracted legal battle with skyrocketing expenses.
Acceptable situations for aggressive advocacy include:
- When there’s a bit of legislation that resolves an issue in your favor, and the opposing side is unaware of it.
- When a client has been informed that prevailing is unlikely, yet the client insists on paying for continued legal action to take a principled stand.
- When the other side is using bullying methods, it’s appropriate to take an aggressive stance to demonstrate that intimidation will not work.
Aggression can be detrimental when the parties are attempting to settle and the attorney is aggressively looking for a reason to reject each offer rather than trying to problem solve.
An example of this behavior would be at mediation where an aggressive attorney responds to a proposal with, “This offer is ridiculous and a waste of time. Come up with something better.” Instead of presenting a counter-offer that allows for further dialog, and is more likely to end in settlement.
The aggressive perspective in the first example detracts from negotiations and moves the parties further away from settling. This sort of behavior typically increases emotions and moves everyone into a less productive state. Aggressive actions like this could ruin an otherwise easily settled case, and drag it on into an expensive and time-consuming trial that might lead to a worse outcome than what was previously offered throughout mediation.
Rebecca Long Okura is a Utah divorce lawyer.
categories: divorce,divorce mediation,divorce settlement,divorce lawyer,divorce attorney,family law,conflict resolution,mediation,law,legal,lawyer,attorney
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