Marvel’s “Avengers” movies famously feature some of the world’s most iconic, yet independent superheroes — the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and others — joining forces for the first time (catchphrase: “Avengers Assemble!”) to create a supergroup–dream team able to handle the most difficult challenges facing the universe.
But try to picture these “Avengers” as a team of lawyers. For starters, it might be comically unfair (pun intended) to their images to envision mighty Thor wielding a lightning-bolt adorned briefcase instead of his mystical hammer Mjölnir, or the Hulk in a three-piece suit using a five-inch binder of documents to smash an alien into oblivion. But as fantastical as those images may seem, the truly unusual part of thinking of the “Avengers” as attorneys might be imagining a collection of lawyers with widely different skill sets being asked to join forces as a team.
Apart from law, most all other industries run with teams: Automobile, aerospace, advertising, construction, etc. But unfortunately, in current legal practice, many lawyers and their firms tend to be strongly averse to voluntarily seeking to collaborate with other lawyers — both inside and outside of their own firms. This status quo can prevent clients from getting the best results. A strong lead counsel, however, understands that assembling a diverse set of attorneys—who possess different skills, approaches, or styles (“powers”) — may be vital to providing the best possible client service.
There are a few possible reasons many lead attorneys resist building teams through collaboration — none of which serves to benefit their clients. Lead counsel may not want to share the billing hours or credit, or may wish to appear up to the task without assistance for fear that the client may choose another lawyer on the next matter. This type of commanding ego can be fragile and inhibiting. It can sometimes prevent an attorney from looking outward (to other firms) or even inward (to other attorneys at the same firm!) to build the best possible team to suit a client’s needs on a case or transaction.
Of course, not all lawyers’ motivations are the same. But in a profession where maintaining a sense of all-knowing confidence in front of clients and colleagues is treated as paramount, many lead lawyers seek to position themselves as the only “hero” for the job at hand. Whatever the cause, counsel are often resistant to alliance — even in complex, high-stakes situations where the matter may require an intricate, novel approach to problem-solving beyond what a “solo act” can provide.
Take one more example from the movies: While many “Avengers” are trained martial artists, only Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow is a master of psychological interrogation techniques. Tony Stark (Iron Man) is the group’s technological genius. When the situation calls for those skills, the team would find itself missing crucial capabilities without these “heroes” and the battle might be lost.
In much the same way, many legal problems involve a multitude of tasks that are best tackled by the various and diverse talents of several different kinds of lawyers. Situations may call for an academic theorist, aggressive trial litigator, transactional expert, patent attorney, or all of these. A particular matter is comprised of a series of smaller skirmishes. Lead counsel should always be on the lookout for additional legal talent that can contribute to the client’s needs along the way.
The client—not the ego of the lead attorney — should guide the course, scope, makeup, and composition of the representation. Of course, every team needs a strong leader. But no case, transaction, or client objective should be compromised by a leading lawyer’s resistance to assembling or managing the most appropriate, diverse, and necessary team of attorneys and experts for the job.
Clients should seek lead attorneys who demonstrate an ability to bring together and manage (Assemble!) the right team for each matter, and who are open to creating alliances to employ members of that team in various ways, without permitting the end result to be undermined by the ego-oriented concerns that traditionally prevent lawyers from fighting alongside their colleagues on their clients’ behalves.
Smaller, simpler cases and transactions may only call for one hero — there are fights Hawkeye can win on his own — but when it comes time for clients to navigate large, complicated, difficult, and sophisticated battles, there is no good reason to resist building a winning legal team skilled on all fronts with a variety of powers. Lead counsel should know when to lay down imagined differences. “It’s time to put the team together.”
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