Advocacy: The Dangers of Over-Aggressive Lawyering

While being a zealous advocate for your clients is of course an ethical obligation, it’s dangerous and unwise for lawyers to be overly-aggressive without considering the downsides. Experienced litigator and teacher of advocacy in law schools Peter Afrasiabi discusses the need to be balanced in your advocacy so you can avoid the downsides of over-aggressive lawyering, including lost opportunities, damaged credibility and lost objectivity. Peter also illustrates with vivid examples how following four key tenets of advocacy – integrity, competency, goodwill and dynamism – can make you the best possible advocate for your clients.