But law and litigation have their darker side. It is more likely to sustain domination than to equalize power. Litigation expresses a chilling, Hobbesian vision of human nature. It accentuates hostility, not trust. Selfishness supplants generosity.
Truth is shaded by dissembling.
Once an adversarial framework is in place, it supports competitive aggression to the exclusion of reciprocity and empathy. Litigation can be as bizarre as Alice's Wonderland. As a litigant tumbles down the slippery slope into dense procedural thickets, familiar landmarks recede. The journey may even resemble a sudden regression to childhood. There is a new language to learn, for even articulate adults stumble over legalese.