Will Aggressive Attorneys Injure Your Divorce Case?

By Rebecca Long Okura

Some people 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 cause a prolonged legal battle with skyrocketing expenses.

An aggressive stance can be taken:

- When there's a piece of legislation that resolves an issue in your favor, and the other side is unaware of it.

- If the client desires to take a principled stand even though he has been advised that he's unlikely to prevail, and is willing to expend a lot of resources to make that argument.

- If opposing party makes an attempt to intimidate you or your attorney, taking an assertive stance communicates that you will not be a pushover and sets the stage for negotiations rather than bullying.

Aggression can be detrimental when the parties are trying to settle and the attorney is aggressively looking for a reason to reject each offer rather than attempting to problem solve.

An illustration of this sort of aggressive behavior would be during mediation when a lawyer rejects an offer and exclaims, "What a stupid offer, stop wasting everybody's time and bring something better to the table", instead of countering with another offer and allowing the negotiation process to move forward and increasing the likeliness of reaching a settlement.

The behavior in the first example does nothing to help the negotiation process and decreases the likeliness of settling. The aggression can escalate negative emotions and encourage an environment of conflict instead of problem solving. A case that ought to be quickly settled can be drawn into an extended legal battle, costing the client an extensive amount of time and expense while potentially ending up with a worse court-ordered decision than the offers that were dismissed throughout negotiations. - 30299

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