Winning is the Best Revenge

If you practice in the Circuit Court of Cook County, you meet all kinds of interesting people. A lot of these characters are sour, grumpy grinches who like nothing better than sharing their disposition. Litigation, which is really just a long series of different activities, gives them lots openings. These folks pick their battles by picking anything that presents itself and opportunities inevitably arise. Try to schedule a deposition, and you might get a nasty email with personal attacks disputing the date, place, time, order, whatever.

These make my bile rise as much as the next guy, but I intuitively refuse to engage. People will either play nice or they won't and I'm not going to waste my energy returning snide remarks in kind. I'd rather lose ten petty battles and win the war. And when the battles aren't petty, I spend my energy positioning for a win, instead of sparring with the other guy. There's nothing they hate more than being ignored, it throws them off balance. Couple that spending billable time preparing (instead of swearing) and more times than not, you win. And isn't that the best revenge?