The Atlanta Lawyer January/February 2013 | Page 12

section update Take Your Adversary to Lunch By Christina M. Baugh Fellows LaBriola LLP A s Atlanta has grown and expanded, so too has the bar. However, while the expansion has provided benefits such as increased diversity, it has also brought about the unmistakably despicable behavior that often arises from perceived unanimity and the belief that there are no repercussions to bad behavior. Sixteen years ago, in response to the slippery slope to pervasive juvenile behavior, the Atlanta Bar Litigation Section hatched the then-unheard of idea of taking one’s adversary to lunch (or breakfast, drinks, miniature golf, etc.). The goal of the Take Your Adversary to Lunch Program is simple: to enhance civility and professionalism in litigation. The brains behind the idea, litigator Craig Goodrich, had only one agenda item: to “break bread together” (perhaps this is unsurprising given that Mr. Goodrich now is a full-time minister). The Program provides a simple structure to encourage positive, non-acrimonious interaction among current and former adversaries. The rest is up to you. After lunch with an adversary, Mr. Goodrich came away “feeling that an adversary had become, if not a friend, a fellow colleague at the Bar.” The Program humanizes the often adversarial relationship and can lead to budding friendships and a new source of business referrals. In this way, the Litigation Section hopes that the Program will foster a collegial environment among attorneys that not only enriches the practice of law but also benefits clients. We’ve all been involved in a discovery dispute that took on an unnecessary momentum of its own because of a nasty letter writing campaign, overly aggressive motions or some other practice, which led to entrenched, polarized positions on a dispute that otherwise could have been resolved through some face-to-face interactions among the attorneys. If any of your adversaries immediately come to mind upon reading the phrase “discovery disputes”- that should be the first person you call and invite to lunch. Knowing the attorney on the other side of your case (or at least having had a pleasant lunch with her or him) discourages all sides from falling into this trap and resorting to obnoxious personal behavior. It simply 12 THE ATLANTA LAWYER January/February 2013 [email protected] is harder to send a nasty letter or file a mean-spirited motion after talking with your adversary about your kids’ respective soccer games or band recitals. At the time of the Program’s inception, then Chief Justice Robert Benham opined that the Program is consistent with his belief that “the practice of law is the practice of community healing.” Of the three professions, law, medicine and ministry, Justice Benham notes, the medical profession is recognized for healing the body and the ministry for healing the soul; but people sometimes lose sight of the fact that the legal profession’s mandate is to heal the community. There you have it: promoting civility, reducing contentious and expensive discovery disputes, making friends, getting business referrals, and helping the profession meet one of its primary goals: healing the community. How could you not take an adversary to lunch? The Litigation Section is hoping for record participation in the Program this February. Once you have taken an adversary to lunch, please complete an on-line form that will be available on the Atlanta Bar website at http://www.atlantabar.org, or contact Tanya Windham at [phone] or twindham@ atlantabar.org. In the event that the above is insufficient to motivate you to take an adversary to lunch, as an additional incentive, during the March meeting of the Litigation Section, there once again will be a drawing from the entries received for Buckhead Life Restaurant Group gift cards, which you can use to take another adversary to lunch! ■ The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association