president’s message
Relationship Building –
The Core of the Practice of Law
By Michael B. Terry
Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP
O
n November 30, 2010, former President of the Atlanta
Bar Association, John T. Marshall (President, 197475) addressed the Chief Justice’s Convocation on
Professionalism. John told the audience of a survey he had
undertaken of retired attorneys. He asked each retired attorney
what that attorney missed the most about the practice of law. The
predominant answer was “relationships.” Relationships with
partners, with judges, with staff and with opposing counsel were
listed as the most rewarding aspects of the practice of law, and
as the aspects most missed in retirement. John, as usual, went
straight to the heart of the matter.
Relationships are at the core of the practice of law. The success of
law firms depends on the relationships cultivated with their clients.
That point is not lost even on the most success-oriented lawyers.
But all relationships are important, whether with clients, judges,
clerks, lawyers within a firm, support staff or even adversaries. As
John Marshall noted, retired attorneys did not miss the trappings
and perquisites of the practice – they missed the relationships and
human interactions. In the long run, the success of a lawyer or
firm is not measured in per-partner profits, but rather, as Margaret
Mead said, “in terms of the contributions an individual makes to
her and his fellow human beings.”
And it is not a zero sum game. Devoting time and energy to
developing relationships (even those other than attorney-client) also
promotes material success. Not only personal and job satisfaction,
but skill development, business development and professional
reputations are all enhanced by building and fostering the
relationships described above. Mentoring relationships further the
careers of both the mentor and the mentored individual, developing
skills and important relationships of the mentored individual, and
frequently increasing the job satisfaction of and reenergizing tired
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THE ATLANTA LAWYER
January/February 2011
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or jaded mentors. Relationships with co-counsel and opposing
counsel similarly provide important contacts, sources of business
and, occasionally, real friendships. Relationships built through
bar, community or pro bono legal services begin with a foundation
of shared interest and commitment and can form some of the most
rewarding relationships that a lawyer will develop.
The Litigation Section of the Atlanta Bar Association has taken
relationship building to a different level. The “Take Your
Adversary to Lunch” Program began in 1997 and has become
one of the Bar’s premier programs. The program encourages
and rewards attorneys for building, through lunch, relationships
with opposing counsel. The concept of “Take Your Adversary To
Lunch,” recalls 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”). This not only increases job satisfaction, but
also civility and professionalism. Anecdotally, it reduces costs to
clients by allowing issues in cases to be discussed and resolved by
the attorneys themselves, without involving the courts. It has led
to more than one settlement. The program has been expanded and
copied, both with and without attribution, by sections and bars
around the state and the country. As incoming Litigation Section
Chair Steve LaBriola said last year, “the program humanizes the
adversarial relationship.”
I encourage every attorney to participate in the Take Your
Adversary to Lunch Program. But more than that, I encourage
every attorney to focus on developing real relationships with all
of those with whom you come into contact professionally. Those
who do so may miss some of those relationships when they retire.
But those who do not will never eve