The Art of Advocacy in Matters That Shape the Future
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” — so wrote Sun Tzu two and a half millennia ago. In courtrooms, in the offices of tax inspectors, at negotiating tables, this truth reveals itself daily. Cases are often decided long before the first hearing — in the quiet of preparation, in the choice of strategy, in the decision of whom to entrust with one’s cause.
The Anatomy of Legal Conflict
Carl von Clausewitz maintained that war is the continuation of politics by other means. Legal dispute is the continuation of conflicting interests by procedural means. And just as on the battlefield, so in court — victory belongs not to those who are right, but to those who can prove they are right.
Clausewitz also wrote of “friction” — of how, in conditions of conflict, the simplest things become impossibly difficult. Anyone who has encountered judicial or administrative procedure knows this sensation: the thicket of regulations, peremptory deadlines, formalities seemingly divorced from the merits of the case. This friction consumes energy, confuses, disheartens. A professional advocate does not eliminate friction — he transfers it to the opposing side.
The Psychology of the Courtroom
Erving Goffman described social life as theatre, in which we perform roles before various audiences. The courtroom is theatre of particularly high stakes. The judge, the prosecutor, the advocates, the witnesses — each enters with their own script, their own expectations, their own fatigue after the third case of the day.
Daniel Kahneman demonstrated that even judges — individuals trained in rational thought — succumb to heuristics and cognitive bias. The celebrated study of Israeli judges revealed that the probability of a favourable decision in parole cases dropped to nearly zero just before meal breaks, only to return to approximately 65% thereafter. A judge’s hunger may weigh more heavily on a verdict than legal argument.
An effective advocate understands this dynamic. He knows that perception shapes procedural reality. He knows when to construct a narrative and when to dismantle the opponent’s. He understands that a single incisive argument delivered at the right moment carries more weight than an encyclopaedia of valid points delivered at the wrong one.
Strategy as Foresight
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder was fond of saying: “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” Yet he immediately added that planning remains indispensable — not to adhere rigidly to the plan, but to understand the structure of a situation so thoroughly that one can improvise when reality departs from expectations.
Basil Liddell Hart developed the concept of the “indirect approach” — the idea that frontal assault on the enemy’s strong positions is the costliest and least effective method. In legal practice, this means the ability to find unobvious paths: the argument the opponent did not anticipate, the precedent he has forgotten, the weakness in his position he cannot see himself.
John Boyd, fighter pilot and strategic theorist, created the OODA loop concept: observe, orient, decide, act. Victory, Boyd argued, belongs to whoever cycles through this loop faster than the opponent, disorienting him and forcing him into constant reaction rather than action. In legal disputes, procedural initiative is precisely this capacity to dictate tempo, to stay one step ahead, to compel the opponent to respond to our moves rather than we to his.
The Burden of Solitary Battle
Isolation is among the most effective tools for breaking resistance — interrogators worldwide know this. The entrepreneur summoned for inspection, the defendant in criminal proceedings, the party in high-stakes civil litigation — all experience this isolation. On one side stands the apparatus of the state or an experienced opponent with a team of lawyers; on the other, a person alone with his conviction and the sense that no one understands his situation.
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor, wrote that a person can endure almost any “how” if he has a “why.” But in legal conflict, you need something more: you need someone to assume part of the burden, someone to transform chaos into structure, someone who says: I know what to do.
Legal representation is not merely advocacy. It is the recovery of agency in circumstances that strip agency away.
The Moment When Everything Hangs in the Balance
There are moments when the decision to engage professional representation becomes obvious: service of an indictment, notice of a tax inspection, a claim for millions. But often the most consequential decisions arise earlier — when the matter has not yet erupted, when conflict is merely gathering, when there is still room for manoeuvre.
Sun Tzu wrote: “The victorious warrior wins first and then goes to war. The defeated warrior goes to war first and then seeks to win.” The finest legal representation is that which ensures the trial never occurs at all. That the opponent withdraws upon seeing the other side’s preparation. That the dispute is resolved in negotiation, on the client’s terms, before it escalates to court.
Yet when one must fight — one must fight with full commitment, with the best people, with a clear strategy and the determination to see it through.
Skarbiec Law Firm
Since 2006, we have stood alongside entrepreneurs and private individuals in matters that shape their futures. Our team — advocates, legal counsels, tax advisors — has spent nearly two decades representing clients in disputes with tax authorities, in criminal and fiscal-criminal proceedings, in negotiations of the highest stakes, in cross-border matters spanning jurisdictions and legal cultures.
We understand that choosing an advocate is a decision that may determine everything. We therefore make no promises of easy victories. We promise preparation, experience, and the resolve to fight for our client’s cause as though it were our own.
“Amateurs discuss strategy. Professionals discuss logistics” — so runs the military adage. We discuss both. For in matters that shape the future, there is no place for amateurs.
