Newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan invited Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to dinner the other night.  “A Ryan aide said the two lawmakers talked shop for a short time and spent most of the evening getting to know each other.”

This is consistent with my suggestion that counterpart lawyers have lunch together early in a case so that they can get to know each other.  See Getting Good Results for Clients by Building Good Working Relationships with “Opposing Counsel” and my book, Lawyering with Planned Early Negotiation: How You Can Get Good Results for Clients and Make Money.

If you have a good relationship, you are more likely to be able to exchange information informally, discuss issues candidly, readily agree on procedural matters, take reasonable negotiation positions that recognize both parties’ legitimate expectations, trust each other, take reasonable risks, resolve matters efficiently, satisfy your clients, and enjoy your work. . . . On the other hand, if you have a bad relationship with opposing counsel, a case can become your own private hell.  Your counterpart may decline to grant routine professional courtesies (such as extensions of deadlines to file court papers), bombard you with excessive and unjustified discovery requests, file frivolous motions, make outrageous negotiation demands, yell and scream at you, and generally behave badly.  You may feel that you are fighting over everything and that you need to be more guarded than usual, communicate only in writing, and document every conversation.  The time and cost involved is likely to skyrocket, and your clients may feel forced to accept unreasonable results if they cannot withstand the other side’s nasty tactics.