Lawyer question - Frank Ettin, et al.

[Midwest]

Maybe the safest way to communicate is to stand in a foil lined tent, in a cave writing on a chalkboard....
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[Frank Ettin]

Maybe the safest way to communicate...

Or to not communicate anything at all to anyone. Just stand quietly in a corner. But that ain't much of a life.

The reality is that in order to have a full life we must communicate with others. And if we engage in various types of economic transaction, we need to document. In the business world I've seen more legal difficulties with a lack of documentation than from documentation.

The thing is that there are no guarantees in life, nor are there really any good formulas. Our ability to satisfactorily navigate the minefield of life, and to flourish, will relate to our knowledge and understanding or reality and our consistently exercising good judgement. A healthy dose of discretion and circumspection won't hurt.

There are, however, three rules --

1. Never play cards with a guy called "Doc."
   
   
2. Never eat at a place called "Mom's."
   
   
3. Never sleep with anyone whose troubles are worse than your own.

(Sorry about the closing digression. I couldn't resist.)

 

[Kleanbore]

One cannot function without communication. The issue is what to document and how to do it.

I recommend reading Protect Yourself From Business Lawsuits (…and Lawyers Like Me) (author: Tom Schweich, Simon & Schuster 1998). The material in it pertains to more than what the title may seem to indicate.

One thing I learned in it might be of general interest: when you develop a document in MS Word and modify it in changes mode, every addition, every edit, and everything that was ever deleted can be seen and traced chronologically and identified to the person who made the change.

Always use only a completely new file after you have finished developing the document.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...One thing I learned in it might be of general interest: when you develop a document in MS Word and modify it in changes mode, every addition, every edit, and everything that was ever deleted can be seen and traced chronologically and identified to the person who made the change.

Always use only a completely new file after you have finished developing the document.

On the other hand, I've successfully used the "red-line" history of revision to a contract to support my client's view of the course of the negotiations. That was good for my client, but not so good for the other guy.

With a lot of these things, it'll all wind up depending on whose ox gets gored.

 

[Kleanbore]

Posted by Frank Ettin: On the other hand, I've successfully used the "red-line" history of revision to a contract to support my client's view of the course of the negotiations. That was good for my client, but not so good for the other guy.

That works, and it goes back to your comment that a lack of communication can lead to more difficulties than the existence of communication.

One place you probably do not want to have a red line history come back to haunt you is when you have prepared a response or rebuttal to a complicated claim of non-performance or non-compliance, an assertion of product liability or non-conformity, or an allegation of wrongdoing.

Chances are the final response may contain words to the effect that you (r client) did do or did not do something, and that someone may have said something in an earlier draft that would undermine that assertion.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...One place you probably do not want to have a red line history come back to haunt you is when you have prepared a response or rebuttal to a complicated claim of non-performance or non-compliance, an assertion of product liability or non-conformity, or an allegation of wrongdoing....

Which is a good reason to have that sort of thing prepared by your lawyer. Communications with counsel are of course protected by the attorney-client privilege. And drafts done by your lawyer, with his track of revisions, should be protected as attorney work-product.

Anyway, an interesting detour into the world of business law practice -- but perhaps a bit off-topic.