Yes, particularly in divorce cases where often I have observed attorneys seem to ENCOURAGE dispute. Here is one of the things I did and you can see why I finally had to retire, I was LOSING IT.
There was a couple who were BOTH good friends of mine but sadly decided to divorce. The husband had a small construction company he had built from scratch. He was willing to share the value with his soon to be EX. However, she had a real SHARK as an attorney who, in an attempt to make it seem as though HE was responsible for her gains, did everything in his power to make the two people become ENEMIES instead of parting on favorable terms. I was, believe it or not, the expert witness FOR BOTH. I know, this is HIGHELY unusual but I was the only person they both trusted. Anyhow, we had pretrial depositions and I was present in theirs, and I lost my temper. I grabbed this attorney and said, "look buddy, these are good people trying to make an equitable settlement and if you dont get out of the way I am going to meet you in a dark alley". Well, he decided discretion was the better part of valor and they settled up right there, no trial needed. I decided though I could have gotten in a lot of trouble and it was time I retired before I killed someone. jdn |
