I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “You may win the battle – but lose the war.” King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek king of the Hellenistic period defeated the Roman Empire at the battle of Heraclea and Asculum in 280 BC and 279 BC respectively. King Pyrrhus won the battle but lost countless men, including most of his friends and commanders. King Pyrrhus’ army was left weakened with little hope of reinforcements. After the battle of Asculum, King Pyrrhus reportedly stated, “another such victory and we are lost.” Although the Romans lost the two battles, they had abundant ready, willing, and able reinforcements with which to carry on the war. The Roman Empire won the war in 275 BC. King Pyrrhus’ victories at the battles of Heraclea and Asculum later gave rise to the term Pyrrhic victory: a victory in which the winning side suffers significant losses negating any true victory or long-term progress.
Lawyers often get bogged down in the academic exercise of pursuing meaningless and pedantic discovery battles. The lawyer may be right; the client may be entitled to the opposing party’s financial records for the last five years. The client may be entitled to the plaintiff’s mental health records. If the lawyer doesn’t get a favorable ruling from the trial court, the lawyer may have an excellent chance of prevailing at the appellate level. But to what end? Will the financial records or mental health records really impact the outcome of the case? Will the potential impact of the records outweigh the time and expense of obtaining the records? Or will the “win” result in an unnecessary expense of time and money yielding little substantive progress towards the client’s strategic goals?
Formulating a strategic litigation plan early in the case helps identify Pyrrhic victories in litigation. At every stage of litigation, and before every battle, we evaluate our next action and tactical move both in terms of our strategic goals for the case and in terms of the client’s long term strategic business goals. This helps us focus our efforts on high-value tasks with meaningful positive impacts while avoiding costly, low value, or outright unnecessary legal tasks.’
About Christian & Small
Christian & Small LLP represents a diverse clientele throughout Alabama, the Southeast, and the nation with clients ranging from individuals and closely-held businesses to Fortune 500 corporations. By matching highly experienced lawyers with specific client needs, Christian & Small develops innovative, effective, and efficient solutions for clients. With offices in Birmingham, metro-Jackson, Mississippi, and the Alabama Gulf Coast, Christian & Small focuses on the areas of litigation and business, is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms, and is the only Alabama-based member firm in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. Our corporate social responsibility program is focused on education, and diversity is one of Christian & Small’s core values.
No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.