Legal mentors often share career-defining advice, and one piece of guidance about opposing counsel has proven particularly enduring and worth examining closely.
Early in one attorney’s career, a mentor urged that whenever another lawyer asked for a favour, something should always be sought in return.
Whether opposing counsel wanted acceptance of service, consent to an extension, or another professional courtesy, the mentor believed concessions should always be extracted.
The logic behind this advice is not entirely without merit, as lawyers are expected to advocate zealously for their clients throughout litigation.
In negotiations, concessions are regularly exchanged, and procedural accommodations can sometimes carry meaningful strategic weight for the outcome of a case.
There are genuine situations where lawyers should negotiate over accommodations, particularly when granting a request could prejudice a client or materially affect litigation.
However, insisting on receiving something in exchange for every professional courtesy represents an unnecessarily transactional approach to the practice of law.
Such an approach can make lawyers seem somewhat inhuman, stripping away the basic professional goodwill that holds the legal community together.
Attorneys are people, and sometimes they need accommodations because of personal or professional circumstances that are entirely beyond their control.
A lawyer might request an extension due to a family emergency, an unexpected illness, or professional obligations that have made meeting a deadline genuinely difficult.
Responding to such a request by immediately demanding something in exchange can appear petty, especially when granting the accommodation costs the other side little or nothing.
Lawyers should be capable of recognising when a colleague simply needs a helping hand, without converting that moment into a tactical negotiation.
The instinct to extract value from every interaction may reflect sharp legal thinking, but it ultimately erodes the collegial relationships that make legal practice function smoothly.
Professional courtesy is not weakness, and lawyers who understand that distinction tend to build stronger reputations and more sustainable careers over time.