Law Practice,
Appellate Practice
Nov. 6, 2018
How golden is silence?
Litigators earn their living by speaking up, and especially for reactively responding, so it does not come naturally to hold one’s tongue. Yet, as Ecclesiastes teaches, there is “a time to be silent and a time to speak.” The Exceptional Lawyer recognizes that when speaking is folly, silence is wisdom.
Benjamin G. Shatz
Partner
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP
Appellate Law (Certified), Litigation
Email: bshatz@manatt.com
Benjamin is a certified specialist in appellate law who co-chairs the Appellate Practice Group at Manatt in the firm's Los Angeles office. Exceptionally Appealing appears the first Tuesday of the month.
EXCEPTIONALLY APPEALING
A concept learned early in law school is that silence is not acquiescence. This idea appears in California's jury instructions, CACI 310, which says that if a party does not respond to an offer, then that inaction is not deemed an acceptance, unless the parties understood silence to be acceptance. A related Latin proverb is Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit -- He who is silent, when he ought to ha...
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