Take Your Adversary to Lunch
Yesterday I received an invitation to an interesting luncheon being sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association. The concept, "Take Your Adversary To Lunch," is based on a line in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew ("and do as adversaries do in law, strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends"). The luncheon's focus is to "encourage lawyers to share a meal with an adversary - someone who they have opposed in the past or are currently opposing in a legal matter."
This idea makes sense from a couple of perspectives. To begin with, I think attorneys (and the public) need to move beyond the often ridiculous notion that representing your client well means you have to act with incivility toward the other side. You don't, and in some (many?) cases clients are ill-served when their attorneys behave badly. To me, that's one of the points of alternative dispute resolution.
I've also been reading a lot about the increasing number of attorneys who become depressed about their line of work. My pet theory is that acting -- or feeling required to act -- in an uncivil manner can take a real toll on your psyche.
A blurb about the event, with information on how to register, can be found on this page (it's about half-way down the page, under "Special Events").
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