In-House Counsel

You Can Catch More Settlements With Honey

Treat opposing counsel with kindness and you may be surprised about what you receive in return.

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For the past eight months, our hospital has been engaged in a rather sizable and complex dispute with an insurance company that is disputing its payment responsibility.

Although this seems like a run-of- the-mill dispute for a hospital, and they normally are, this one involves a family of patients who were struck by a negligent semi-driver from out of state. Given the extent of their injuries, their combined bills are well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And for those of your fresh off the bar exam and still in your issue-spotting state of mind, you are correct. We’ve got diversity jurisdiction on our hands and our case is presently in federal court.

I only give this level of background on a relatively straightforward set of facts to say that the opposing counsel in this case is not one I normally work with. They are a mid-sized firm from out of state that I had to Google to learn more about.

None of their attorneys attended a law school located in our state, and despite my best efforts, I had no “small-world” connection I could make with them to engender a sense of goodwill at the start of the case.

To put it bluntly, neither I nor my opposing counsel owed each other a favor. We will likely never face off against one another in the future. And we, quite frankly, could have tossed professional courtesy aside and geared up for some bareknuckled boxing.

But instead, something remarkable happened. We were cordial with one another at the start. We started with an introductory phone call and hit it off. We joked, we talked family, hobbies, and finally, we talked some shop.

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If they requested an extension for one of our requests, I did not object, and vice versa. When I thought their response to our request for documents produced less than anticipated, we talked through it on the phone, instead of my running to the judge. All of this in federal court, mind you, which is notorious for upholding a zero tolerance policy for delay.

And when their team came into town for the initial hearing, we all got drinks and dinner after the hearing and genuinely had a nice evening.

Before you think my team and I were snowballed by a charm offensive, I can honestly say the feeling was mutual. They too expressed surprise our two teams — which again, will likely never see each other again after this case — had carried on such a cordial relationship throughout the trial.

By the time the case inevitably turned to the topic of a settlement, both sides were more than willing to engage in the conversation. Of course we both still remained zealous advocates for our respective clients, but this negotiation was much more pleasant than the countless others I have been a party to.

What’s most surprising about the whole interaction during this trial is that I found it surprising at all. It bothers me it took a case with a team of attorneys from a distant bar association to remind me our profession can work through our disagreements in a cordial and pleasant manner and still want to go for drinks together after.

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Sure, it would be easy to blame the sensationalization of our profession by Hollywood or our present political climate for the need to be visceral to opposing counsel.

But I encourage all of my colleagues to set the current discord aside and treat your opposing counsel with a little professional courtesy. A little can go a long way.

Stephen R. Williams is in-house counsel with a multi-facility hospital network in the Midwest. His column focuses on a little talked about area of the in-house life, management. You can reach Stephen at stephenwilliamsjd@gmail.com.

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