Do You Really Want an “Aggressive” Attorney?

Run a simple search on Google for “aggressive attorney”  and you’ll find page after page of attorneys claiming to be “aggressive” or “the most aggressive!”  I guess they’re advertising as “aggressive” because that’s what clients are looking for?  Why? Because you have a really important case and you want to CRUSH the other side? Trust me, if this is what you want, you can find hundreds of lawyers to tell you “I’m your man/woman!”  But, a good lawyer will say something different; a good lawyer will ask you “why?”

If you are seeking an aggressive attorney, you are most likely being driven, at least in part, by emotion.  An attorney’s job, however, is not to validate your emotions. Good attorneys listen to their clients to ascertain the clients’ real goals.  Are you looking for a business solution to a problem that has gotten out of control? Are you looking to protect the reputation of your brand?

Your attorney’s tactics need to be dictated by the ends you are trying to reach.  Yes, at some point in time, aggression may be the proper tactic for some portion of the case. But, deploying aggression for the sake of aggression is foolish and costly.  A blindly aggressive attorney fosters a bad relationship with opposing counsel and decreases, not improves, the probability of resolving your dispute.  If your goal is to spend as much money as possible, by all means, hire a self-proclaimed “aggressive” attorney.  Otherwise, look for an attorney who manages your litigation risks and knows the proper time and place for aggression.