"I think that practising the law, particularly litigation, and particularly in Glasgow, has always been difficult enough without adding to it by having problems with professional colleagues or former colleagues"
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Litigation is hard; Glasgow litigation is harder; and the one thing that should not make it harder is the people on your own side of the profession. Len G. Murray’s line reads like a restrained public-service announcement from inside the bar: the true danger to legal practice isn’t just hostile judges, ruthless opponents, or the grinding pressure of clients, but the avoidable frictions created by “professional colleagues or former colleagues.” That last phrase is doing quiet work. Former colleagues suggests splits, defections, firms that fracture, partnerships that sour, and reputations that travel faster than any pleading.
The intent is managerial, almost pastoral: Murray is defending civility not as moral ornament but as survival gear. He frames collegiality as a practical necessity in a high-stakes ecosystem where everyone keeps running into each other across cases and years. In a legal community with a strong sense of place - “particularly in Glasgow” - relationships are infrastructure. Burn one bridge and you may have burned three future referrals, two witness leads, and the informal trust that lets disputes stay professional rather than personal.
The subtext is also a warning about escalation. Litigation already incentivizes aggression; adding interpersonal vendettas inside the profession turns legal conflict into tribal conflict. Murray’s careful, almost bureaucratic phrasing (“adding to it by having problems”) signals a culture that values understatement, but the message is pointed: competence isn’t only knowing the law, it’s managing the human terrain of the courtroom corridor.
The intent is managerial, almost pastoral: Murray is defending civility not as moral ornament but as survival gear. He frames collegiality as a practical necessity in a high-stakes ecosystem where everyone keeps running into each other across cases and years. In a legal community with a strong sense of place - “particularly in Glasgow” - relationships are infrastructure. Burn one bridge and you may have burned three future referrals, two witness leads, and the informal trust that lets disputes stay professional rather than personal.
The subtext is also a warning about escalation. Litigation already incentivizes aggression; adding interpersonal vendettas inside the profession turns legal conflict into tribal conflict. Murray’s careful, almost bureaucratic phrasing (“adding to it by having problems”) signals a culture that values understatement, but the message is pointed: competence isn’t only knowing the law, it’s managing the human terrain of the courtroom corridor.
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| Topic | Work |
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