The Eastwood Board of Directors had previously asked a question to a panel of Attorneys. The answer provided by these lawyers has caused needless fear and confusion, and perhaps a premature negative outlook of our future potential to fight against the development in a civil court.
To best discuss why, it is important to explain the duties and operation of a typical lawyer, as they are different from those of other consulting type of professionals, in a couple of key ways. Due to liability related concerns, they tend to be very narrow and extremely cautious in their answers. For instance, if you ask a typical mechanic a question: “My car won’t start and goes tick tick tick when I turn the key – will replacing my starter fix the problem?”. The mechanic would probably say “I don’t think a starter is the problem and I can help you find the proper fix if you like”. If mechanics were operating like lawyers, they would say “…unfortunately, it is our opinion that replacing your starter will have results that are tentative at best in fixing your problem”. It would not be in their best interest financially or legally to point you in another direction, unless you pointed in that direction first. In our example above, It is beside the point that they are mechanics and know that such noise is probably a bad battery. You didn’t ask them if replacing your battery would fix your car so they won’t offer the answer that would provide you a less expensive and more certain option. The way attorneys operate requires that you ask the right questions, even if that question is “… what are the numerous possibilities as to why my car won’t start?”
The question asked by the Eastwood Board wasn’t broad – like “can we win in court using any sort of defense that you might think of?” No, it was a very specific question on the usefulness of our Eastwood Declarations in court. The answer was “…it’s tentative”. WIthout understanding how attorneys think and act differently, you might jump to the conclusion that we have NO good way to win in court.
Suggestions: Ask the current lawyers a broad question: such as take a few hours to brain-storm and write down as many possible defenses that we might use in court. Then refine that list to a few best options. That’s how brainstorming works and it can be very effective and efficient.
FYI: Several attorneys that gave us the opinions mentioned above recently removed themselves from our employment stating that they have a conflict of interest.