The ancient Chinese military genius SUN TZU’s classic book “THE ART OF WAR” is one useful material that must be read by trial lawyers as part of their law practice and continuing education in the same manner that the said book is being patiently studied in detail by ambitious business students in renowned business schools worldwide and by rich and famous business tycoons and investment strategists in major trade centers of the world. (See: www.artofwarsuntzu.com).
I wish to reproduce below salient excerpts from the said book and make a few personal comments thereon insofar as they may be relevant to the professional work of trial lawyers.
• According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans.
Comment:
Improvise. Be flexible. Be open-minded. Avoid tunnel-vision and straight-jacketed view.
• All warfare is based on deception.
Comment:
Although the universal rules of evidence promote transparency during discovery, pretrial, mediation, and judicial dispute resolution stages, your vital and strategic information and plans must be kept confidential at all cost.
• Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Comment:
Hold your cards close to your chest. Do not reveal all your plans. Do not signal your punches. Disclose only to the extent necessary and advantageous to your case.
• Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
Comment:
Befriend the enemy. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, so goes the cliché. Project an image of humility, warmth, and harmlessness to disarm the enemy.
• If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
Comment:
Plan. Know your enemy. Know when to attack and when to keep still; when to talk and when to keep quiet; when to stand up and when to sit down.
• If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
Comment:
Let the talkative and combative enemy self-destruct by his obnoxious words and actions before the court. Be humble and unassuming.
• If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
Comment:
Know what and when successive remedial actions and motions must be instituted. Befriend all the collaborating lawyers and witnesses of the other side. Divide the opposite camp without being unethical.
• Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
Comment:
Surprise in war and advocacy is a virtue.
• These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
Comment:
Protect your secrets. Compartmentalize the distribution of inside information within your team.
• When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
Comment:
Avoid protracted litigation. Settle and compromise as soon as possible. Exploit the benefits of discovery, pretrial, mediation, and judicial dispute resolution stages to save your case from prolonged and expensive judicial processes.
• Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its needs. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one’s own strength.
Comment:
Be prepared with your own litigation funds. Do not forget your counter-claims, third-party complaints, and cross-claims.
• Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished. On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people’s substance to be drained away.
Comment:
Be conscious of the financial, emotional and social costs and pains of litigations and the havoc that they wreak on the lives of the parties and their families and loved ones.
• Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.
Comment:
Believe in your case or cause of action. Know that righteous anger is a virtue.
• In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
Comment:
Win, Do not show off. End your case soonest.
• In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
Comment:
Do not lose sight of the ultimate and main goal of your case. Save the property under litigation. Maximize the recoveries.
• Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
Comment:
Prepare in advance – witnesses, evidence, exhibits, theory, network and connections, funds, legal team, spokesman, and staff support. Negotiate. Win your case without going to court. Maximize the benefits of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to your advantage. Meet your opponent halfway.
• Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy’s plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
Comment:
Force the opponent to compromise and settle by preparing very well for your case well in advance of the negotiation and the trial.
• Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.
Comment:
Win without litigation. Avoid the costs, pains, delay and tediousness of court proceedings caused by trial, appeals, special civil actions, motions and the like.
• It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
Comment:
Know when to fight, when to go to full-blown trial, when to talk peace, when to buy peace, when to settle or compromise, and when to surrender.
• Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force.
Comment:
Money and power talk. The justice system is not an exception to this dirty capitalist rule.
• Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
Comment:
Know when to fight and to surrender. Know when to defeat the enemy by speed and surprise. Be competent in your work. Be flexible.
• Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Comment:
Know yourself. Know your enemy. Be honest with yourself.
• To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
Comment:
Exploit the mistakes of the enemy. Minimize your errors. Better yet, be a perfectionist without being obsessive and crazy.
• Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.
Comment:
Know how to balance defense and offense. Offense is the best defense.
• What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.
Comment:
Win with ease. Know when to file a motion to dismiss, for summary judgment, or judgment on the pleadings. Know how to exploit discovery procedures and the opportunities of pretrial. Know how and when to use the special civil action of certiorari to correct the abusive acts of the lower courts.
• He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.
Comment:
Aspire for a perfect war. Be a perfectionist (if you can).
• Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Comment:
Victory first, fight later. This is the crux of the message of Sun Tzu.
• In respect of military method, we have, firstly, Measurement; secondly, Estimation of quantity; thirdly, Calculation; fourthly, Balancing of chances; fifthly, Victory.
Comment:
Know how to calculate and extrapolate the probabilities of success and defeat. Be practical. Be scientific.
• The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.
Comment:
Management and organization are crucial in litigations. A trial lawyer is an advocate, leader, organizer, manager, forecaster and statistician.
• To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy’s attack and remain unshaken— this is effected by maneuvers direct and indirect. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.
Comment:
Know when to be frontal or direct and when to be subtle, diplomatic and indirect. Adjust. Divert and digress when needed.
• Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline, simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength. Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions. Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act. He sacrifices something, that the enemy may snatch at it. By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.
Comment:
Deceive the enemy without necessarily violating your code of ethics or the rules of court as a lawyer and as an officer of the court. Do not reveal your secrets to the enemy or to the judge. Do not teach your opponent what to do.
• The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy. When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become as it were like unto rolling logs or stones. For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground, and to move when on a slope; if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped, to go rolling down.
Comment:
Work as a team. Promote team spirit in your law firm. Unite the clients and their witnesses.
• Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
Comment:
Sue first, if called for. But be sure to serve first a demand letter before going to court. Negotiate before taking judicial action. Prepare your case and litigation resources before going to court.
• Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near. If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him; if well supplied with food, he can starve him out; if quietly encamped, he can force him to move. Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.
Comment:
Know the arena of your fight. Know when to choose the arena of your fight. Master the rules of the litigation game. Take the initiative. But avoid overacting or overreacting.
• You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
Comment:
Know whom to sue, where to sue, on what legal theory or alternative causes of action, and what and how much to claim. Master the rules on jurisdiction, venue, and parties.
• If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.
Comment:
Master the art of motions or incidents to test the waters and to test your enemy. Know what and where to attack, to what extent, and when to withdraw and negotiate.
• By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided.
Comment:
Study the enemy’s strength, locations, and logistics. Divide and rule. Consolidate your strength.
• The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; and his forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few.
Comment:
Your next litigation moves are your secrets. Do not signal your punches. Nor teach the enemy what to do next.
• Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting. Scheme so as to discover his plans and the likelihood of their success. Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots. Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient. In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains.
Comment:
Know the secrets of your enemy. Entrap and lure him. Test him. Estimate his next moves. Conceal your strength and plans.
• Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances. Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
Comment:
Be creative, innovative, and original in your moves and plans.
• Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.
Comment:
Dismiss your disloyal, undisciplined and incompetent associates before they destroy your law firm and wreak havoc on the cases of your clients.
• We may take it then that an army without its baggage-train is lost; without provisions it is lost; without bases of supply it is lost.
Comment:
Your supply lines are your litigation funding and the punctual payments of your professional fees and intermittent deposits for costs of suit. Protect them. Without funds, cases are lost.
• We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.
Comment:
Know the vested interests of outside lawyers hired by your client to collaborate with your law firm. Know the vested interests of your witness and other persons who appear to want to help your case. If your client is a corporation or association, know the individual vested interests of its directors and officers and the in-house politics and prevailing institutional culture therein.
• We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country— its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. We shall be unable to turn natural advantage to account unless we make use of local guides.
Comment:
The terrain in litigation as a specie of war refers to jurisdiction, venue, court procedures, the backgrounds and mentalities of the trial judges and their staff, and the politics and family and fraternal ties that might affect the proceedings.
• In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed.
Comment:
Be quiet. Be humble. Do not be talkative. Do not signal your punches, plans and next moves. Do not teach your opponent. Protect your secrets, strategies and tactics. Be invisible.
• Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops, must be decided by circumstances.
Comment:
Be flexible. Improvise. Let the handling trial lawyer decide actual tactical moves on the ground as the case evolves (subject, of course, to regular team analyses and peer reviews).
• Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest.
Comment:
Move fast. Stick to the deadlines. Avoid delays.
• When you plunder countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst your men; when you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the benefit of the soldiery.
Comment:
Reward your partners and associates. Do not be greedy and selfish.
• Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
Comment:
Plan, plan, plan. Think, think, think.
• He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of maneuvering.
Comment:
Diversion is a gift. It relieves pressure at crucial points.
• Now a soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.
Comment:
Before going to court, be sure to have enough sleep and food. Be prepared. Bring the important records. Manage your stress both inside and outside the court. Relax.
• To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it, to wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished:—this is the art of husbanding one’s strength.
Comment:
Plan. Stick to the plan. Rest. Prepare, Manage your stress. Do not panic.
• To refrain from intercepting an enemy whose banners are in perfect order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident array:—this is the art of studying circumstances.
Comment:
Do not attack and irritate a prepared enemy. Study your enemy. Attack only at moments of weakness. Study the judge.
• It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.
Comment:
Choose the arena that benefits your case. Do not fight an uphill battle. Know when to wait and when to attack.
• Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen. Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.
Comment:
Litigation is trap and counter-trap. Do not let the enemy lure and entrap you. Be vigilant.
• When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
Comment:
Give the enemy an honorable and graceful exit. Otherwise, he will be desperate; and things will be bloody. Save his face, and your negotiations will be productive.
• The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.
Comment:
Be prepared. Do not underestimate or overestimate your enemy. There is no substitute for preparation.
• There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: (1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction; (2) cowardice, which leads to capture; (3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; (4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; (5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.
Comment:
Cases are lost when the handling lawyer is reckless, negligent, lacks self-control, hotheaded, temperamental, proud, egotistical, arrogant, talkative, combative, aggressive, self-conscious, lacks self-confidence, unethical, unprofessional, dishonest, selfish, greedy, and does not know how to manage, organize, and inspire his legal team, clients, and witnesses.
• Camp in high places, facing the sun. Do not move up-stream to meet the enemy.
Do not climb heights in order to fight. After crossing a river, you should get far away from it. When an invading force crosses a river in its onward march, do not advance to meet it in midstream. It will be best to let half the army get across, and then deliver your attack. If you are anxious to fight, you should not go to meet the invader near a river which he has to cross. In crossing salt-marshes, your sole concern should be to get over them quickly, without any delay. Country in which there are precipitous cliffs with torrents running between, deep natural hollows, confined places, tangled thickets, quagmires and crevasses, should be left with all possible speed and not approached. While we keep away from such places, we should get the enemy to approach them; while we face them, we should let the enemy have them on his rear.
Comment:
Be vigilant of the terrain of your litigation, the political and fraternal connections of your opponent, the resources and psychology of your enemy, your exit point when things go wrong, and the pressures that work on the judge. Litigation is trap and counter-trap.
• If in the neighborhood of your camp there should be any hilly country, ponds surrounded by aquatic grass, hollow basins filled with reeds, or woods with thick undergrowth, they must be carefully routed out and searched; for these are places where men in ambush or insidious spies are likely to be lurking.
Comment:
Avoid surprise. Study your case. Prepare. Beware of double-faced negotiators. To be killed in ambush is shameful.
• When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, he is relying on the natural strength of his position. When he keeps aloof and tries to provoke a battle, he is anxious for the other side to advance. If his place of encampment is easy of access, he is tendering a bait.
Comment:
Know the movements and psychology of your enemy. Do not fall into his traps. On the contrary, bait him. Know when to attack and when to stay put.
• Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is about to advance. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat. When the light chariots come out first and take up a position on the wings, it is a sign that the enemy is forming for battle. Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot.
Comment:
Do not let the enemy bluff, lure, trap, entice, mislead, deceive and confuse you. Know your self and your enemy. Master his mentality.
• If the enemy’s troops march up angrily and remain facing ours for a long time without either joining battle or taking themselves off again, the situation is one that demands great vigilance and circumspection. If our troops are no more in number than the enemy, that is amply sufficient; it only means that no direct attack can be made. What we can do is simply to concentrate all our available strength, keep a close watch on the enemy, and obtain reinforcements.
Comment:
Measure the competition. Know when to ask for outside help. Accept your limitations.
• He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.
Comment:
Forethought means surveillance and intelligence work. Spy on your enemy (without being unethical). Know his plans and his weak points.
• Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority felt; kind-hearted, but unable to enforce your commands; and incapable, moreover, of quelling disorder: then your soldiers must be likened to spoilt children; they are useless for any practical purpose.
Comment:
Love, serve, protect, inspire and motivate your law team members to advance the causes of your clients.
• If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.
Comment:
Know your self. Know your enemy. Control your self. Know your limitations. Be prepared.
• If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say: “Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.”
Comment:
Focus on attacking the major interests of the enemy and he will surrender. Know your priorities. Do not let peripherals confuse you. Focus on the meat of the litigation.
• Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.
Comment:
Be swift. Speed and surprise are your great war materials. Exploit the lack of preparation of the enemy. Ambush him.
• Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength. Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard.
Comment:
Sometimes, desperation is a virtue. It is difficult to defeat a desperate enemy who had nothing to lose whatsoever. He is prepared to kill and die.
• It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order.
Comment:
A good lawyer is not talkative, keeps the secrets of his law firm and his clients, ethical and professional in his dealings, diligent, and always prepared.
• He must be able to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance. Confront your soldiers with the deed itself; never let them know your design. When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy.
Comment:
Know the virtue of harmless white lies and half-truths for psychological warfare and propaganda purposes, without violating your code of ethics.
• By altering his arrangements and changing his plans, he keeps the enemy without definite knowledge. By shifting his camp and taking circuitous routes, he prevents the enemy from anticipating his purpose. When needed, appoint a competent and telegenic spokesperson to deal with the press.
Comment:
Confuse the enemy. Do not signal to him your plans and intentions. Guard our strategies and tactics
• Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety. For it is precisely when a force has fallen into harm’s way that is capable of striking a blow for victory.
Comment:
Sometimes when your back is against the wall, you are most productive, creative, inspired and dedicated in litigating a case. For you know what desperation means.
• If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.
Comment:
Beware of the entrapment, lures, and enticements of the enemy. Study his every move and his intentions.
• At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.
Comment:
Deceive the enemy. Hide your strength, intentions, interests, and plans, without violating the rules of evidence and discovery.
• Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.
Comment:
Know when to move. Do not waste your time. Manage your stress. Focus on your priorities. Stick to you plan.
• No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.
Comment:
Keep your cool. Self-control is the key. Stick to you plan. Be patient. Be vigilant. Be aware. Be equanimous. Have a balanced mind.
• Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only be obtained from other men. Hence the use of spies, of whom there are five classes: (1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies. Having local spies means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district. Having inward spies, making use of officials of the enemy. Having converted spies, getting hold of the enemy’s spies and using them for our own purposes. Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy. Surviving spies, finally, are those who bring back news from the enemy’s camp. Hence it is that which none in the whole army are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved.
Comment:
Again, spy on your enemy, without violating your code of ethics. Know the value of double-agents. Protect your own secrets.
• Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business. The enemy’s spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become converted spies and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the converted spy that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy. Lastly, it is by his information that the surviving spy can be used on appointed occasions.
•
Comment:
Be subtle, Be quiet. Keep your secrets. Exploit the value of espionage. Penetrate the enemy. But maintain your ethics.
By:
Atty. Manuel J. Laserna Jr.
Laserna Cueva Mercader Law Offices
Las Pines City Bar Association
Email - lcmlaw@gmail.com
http://attylaserna.blogspot.com
http://lcmlaw.multiply.com
