Litigation Sucks. Just ask anyone who has been through it or is going through it. If you are involved in litigation, chances are you weren’t very successful in getting the issue resolved by talking to the other party. That is why you probably hired a lawyer.
If you want, it is not that difficult to avoid all direct communication with the other side. Everything can be done through attorneys. Unfortunately, it costs money for every phone call your attorney has to make or letter that has to be written. Like I said, litigation sucks.
Sometimes the parties act without their attorneys. Every once in a while I will get a phone call from one of my clients from out of the blue saying that he or she has managed to work everything out and to please draw up a settlement agreement. When that happens, I am very happy.
Ethically speaking, attorneys are prohibited from communicating with another party that is represented by counsel. What this means is that your attorney cannot go around the other side’s attorney by having you communicate for your attorney directly with the other side. Please note that if clients want to talk to one another without their attorneys, there is no prohibition to doing this. The important thing is that the attorneys not indirectly communicate through their clients with the other side.
In my practice, I see nothing wrong with clients communicating directly as long as the attorneys stay out of it. In fact, I was in court at a mandatory settlement conference a few weeks ago and the Judge wanted to see both of the parties in chambers without their attorneys. While some might say that this tactic was a little unorthodox, it can be a useful tool to see whether the lawyers are the ones holding up the settlement. And since neither side obtained an unfair advantage, it was a good thing to do. Unfortunately, the case did not settle. So I guess we could say that the lawyers weren’t the deal breakers.
For all of your litigation and family law needs, feel free to contact the Law Offices of Richard A. Marcus at 661-257-8877.