Legal Reflection
Sometimes, the File Speaks More Than Its Parties
At the beginning of every case, each party tells the story in their own way. But when contracts, correspondence, transfers, and dates are examined, the case begins to tell its true story itself. One party may forget a fact, interpret it from their own perspective, or give greater significance to a detail than it deserves. A good document, however, is usually calmer and less emotional.
- Author
- Lawyer Omar Al-Baghdadi
- Published
- Read time
- 5 minutes
- Updated
Sometimes, the File Speaks More Than Its Parties
At the beginning of every case, each party tells the story in their own way.
But when contracts, correspondence, transfers, and dates are examined, the case begins to tell its true story itself.
One party may forget a fact, interpret it from their own perspective, or give greater significance to a detail than it deserves. A good document, however, is usually calmer and less emotional.
That is why I do not treat documents as attachments to the case, but as the memory of the dispute.
A correspondence may reveal what the contract did not say, a transfer may explain what the parties’ accounts did not clarify, and a small date may change the entire sequence of events.
With experience, the question is not only:
What does my client say?
It is also:
What does the file say when we read it apart from the parties’ accounts?
Facts may be told in different ways...
But good documents often know how to preserve the truth.
— Omar Baghdadi