Playing Chess With A Grandmaster On Your Side
I felt confident that I had picked the right lawyer to represent me when, ten minutes after having left a message with his office receptionist, Stu called me. I had left messages with a few other law offices that week, and none had called back. Never having retained an attorney, I did not know what to expect in terms of responsiveness. So I was surprised at the speed with which I received a return call, and I told this to Stu, who explained: “When someone I have never heard from calls me and leaves a message, I assume that he is feeling some anxiety and wants to talk sooner rather than later. When can you stop by?”
Stu over the ensuing weeks and months showed himself to be not only a veritable encyclopedia of the legal code but also a premier expert on the nuances of human behaviour and psychology, helping me to craft a strategy that kept me two steps ahead of the opposition and which, in the end, produced a most satisfactory outcome, far better than I had imagined possible given the circumstances of my situation.
It was, I imagine, like playing a game of chess and having Gary Kasparov on my team.
But Stu was more than an advocate: he was patient, supportive, indefatigable. On more than one occasion I woke in the morning to find an email from him, timestamped between 1 and 3 am, with an insight or idea or simply a brief message of reassurance — evidence, if any was needed, that he was concerned about me and was determined to secure for me the best outcome possible.