In the movies, and in TV series, lawyers are often portrayed as aggressive. As they are, sometimes, in real life.  But does aggression really pay off? Should aggressive lawyers tone it down? Should more mousey lawyers be going for assertiveness training?

There are a few things to unpack here:

• Is there any correlation between aggressive lawyers and successful lawyers?
• Insofar as there is any such correlation, which is the cause and which is the effect, or are they effects of a common cause?
• When does it pay off to be aggressive? And can leopards really change their spots? Or zebras their stripes?

The first thing to do here is to separate aggression from self-confidence and determination. For dispute resolution lawyers, the latter is certainly a desirable quality, and essential for anyone who aspires to any leading role. I can perhaps illustrate this best by recalling an incident from Continue reading →

The TV programme I recently did on pendulum arbitration for BenchTV is now up. The preview is at vimeo, and the full programme is here.

The programme takes the form of an interview by Christopher Chin.  The content is essentally a summary of what is available elesewhere on these pages, but in a form that some might find more easily digested.

BenchTV’s Continue reading →

People have been continuing to say kind things about my book Extra-Contractual Recoveries for Construction and Engineering Work, and it is gratifying to know that practitioners are finding it useful.

Somewhat belatedly, I have now sent to the UK Society of Construction Law the written version of the paper which I delivered for them in London in December. It is as follows:

CLAIMS OUTSIDE THE CONTRACT FROM A COMMON AND A CIVIL LAW PERSPECTIVE

PART ONE: THE COMMON LAW PERSPECTIVE

A Paper given to the Society of Construction Law

December 2023

Robert Fenwick Elliott

CLAIMS OUTSIDE THE CONTRACT FROM A COMMON AND A CIVIL LAW PERSPECTIVE

PART ONE: THE COMMON LAW PERSPECTIVE

Robert Fenwick Elliott

Introduction

Before turning to the subject matter of this topic, I would like to consider what we, as practising lawyers, are really doing, in the law? Let us leave front end lawyers aside for a moment, and focus on what is going on when clients come to us with a problem. It seems to me the skill is really twofold. On the one hand, it is all about prediction. Clients come to us and ask: what is Continue reading →