An adversary’s attacks can bind a lawyer to a case he meant to abandon

Evidence

Twice Schlichtmann had gone up against Cheeseman, one of Boston’s best practitioners in pretrial maneuvers, and he had come out a winner both times. The case was two and a half years old now, and so far he had done nothing but respond to Cheeseman’s attacks. Many years later Schlichtmann would say that if it had not been for Cheeseman, especially the Rule 11 motion, he might have followed Conway’s advice and let Woburn slip away. But at the time, it seemed to Schlichtmann as if somebody were trying to tell him that Woburn really was his destiny. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 682

Categorization

• SEED: An essay on how opposition manufactures commitment: the litigation version of Streisand effects, where a rival’s procedural aggression converts a marginal case into a personal destiny.
• XREF: connects to: A defensive motion can deepen an opponent’s commitment to a case. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action , 582