Through my experiences in litigating at the trial level, I have noticed that some attorneys take the adversarial system literally.   Specifically, some attorneys whom I have encountered think that a successful litigation strategy means arguing every little point.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend that goes along with this outlook: the "adversarial" attorney placing an attorney’s ethics in question, with no basis, in court papers.  The practice almost seems like an additional arrow in some attorneys’ quivers.  This behavior is extremely harmful to the profession and truly offers no valuable  dialog on the issues in the case.

When I see this disturbing practices in cases that I handle, I refer the offending attorney to New York’s "Standards of Civility" (I am sure that this practice endears me to them even more).  Although most of its content will be innate to the reasonable attorney, it is still important to read.