A brush with the law can have serious consequences and is often no joke.
A few years before his own trial, Oscar Wilde wrote, “Lawyers have been known to wrest from reluctant juries triumphant verdicts of acquittal for their clients, even when those clients, as often happens, were clearly and unmistakably innocent”.
In 1895, "The Importance of Being Earnest" opened to packed theatre audiences. The playwright, Oscar Wilde, received rave reviews except from the Marquess of Queensberry who was the father of Wilde’s “partner”, Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bosie”).
What was acceptable homophobia in those days is probably illegal today, and what was an illegal practice then is now “A” ok, which just shows you how fickle the law can be, especially if you are on the wrong end of it.
The Marquess added his righteous indignation to his already eccentric, cantankerous and feisty (he did invent the Queensberry Rules) nature and tried to make their lives a misery. Oscar considered having the Marquess bound over to keep the peace, but wanted to avoid scandal.
The Marquess finally went too far when he left a card at Wilde’s club saying, "To Oscar Wilde, posing as a Somdomite."
Either the insult, the misspelling or both, drove Wilde over the edge. He decided to have the Marquess charged with criminal libel. Wilde’s lawyer, exercising caution, required Wilde to swear on a bible that the insult was not true, which he did.
The trial was abandoned after the defence threatened to produce evidence from rent boys to support the allegation. However, the lawyers for the Marquess sent the papers to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Wilde was convicted of gross indecency.
You would need to be very unlucky if your legal dispute resulted in your financial ruin, divorce, two years hard labour and caused you to leave the country in disgrace to die, shortly after, an early death in poverty.
But what was a disaster for Wilde, regrettable for his own lawyer and a tragedy, was probably considered a good result for the lawyers acting for the other side.
Avoiding disputes in the first place, especially with the cantankerous, violent, mad and bad is often most effective.
So why can’t your lawyer guarantee this sort of result for your own enemy? In fact, although your enemy deserves a “Wilde” job, you would be content with any one of these outcomes.
You suspect that your lawyer is more likely to cause your own financial ruin and divorce rather than that of your opponent.
In certain corrupt countries, lawyers can deliver the right result every time. Yet, in civilized countries they need to go through “due process”.
For this reason, legal disputes are a lot of hard work even if you win. Often there is no winner or loser, just a settlement which may please no one.
Legal disputes reach court in a small percentage of cases. Many potential legal cases end on the first visit to the lawyer who will advise their clients against launching legal actions.
Having said all this, sometimes you have no option but to “go legal”. Even the most patient of people can be driven to legal action by opponents who misinterpret their patience as weakness. As the Indian proverb says, “Even the rabid dog when cornered will jump up and bite you in the face.”
Nevertheless, be strategic and don’t just throw yourself up against the wire.
“There are roads not to follow, enemies that should not be attacked” - Sun Zhu.
