“War, huh, yeah — what is it good for?” sang Edwin Starr in the 1970s. I love that song but don’t necessarily agree with its message. Reading and thinking about history’s most famous conflicts teaches a lot about litigation, and therein lies war’s value for a modern lawyer. Here are some lessons.
Lesson No. 1: “Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please.” That’s Machiavelli in his “History of Florence.”He was right. How many times do corporate counsel hear a client say, “Let’s sue them; that will teach them a lesson”?
