Let us endeavor to see things as they are, and then enquire whether we
ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much
consolation, I know not; but the consolation which is drawn from truth
if any there be, is solid and durable: that which may be derived from
errour, must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. Samuel
Johnson, Letter to Bennet Langton (1758) Attorneys and clients make
hundreds of decisions in every litigation case. From initially deciding
which attorney to retain to deciding which witnesses to call at trial,
from deciding whether to ?le a complaint to deciding whether to appeal a
verdict, attorneys and clients make multiple, critical decisions about
strategies, costs, arguments, valuations, evidence and negotiations.
Once made, these de- sions are scrutinized by an opponent intent on
exploiting the consequences of any mistake. In this intense and
adversarial arena, decision-making errors often are transparent,
irreversible and dispositive, wielding the power to bankrupt clients and
dissolve law ?rms. Although attorneys and clients may regard sound
decision making as incidental to effective lawyering, sound decision
making actually is the essence of effective lawyering. An attorney's
knowledge, intelligence and experience are inert re- urces until the
attorney decides how to deploy those skills to serve the client's
interests. Those decisions, in turn, largely determine a case's course
and outcome.
