Litigation gives hope.

Beyond the obvious fight for rights and survival itself, litigation often operates on something less visible but deeply powerful: HOPE. 

The client hopes for justice, vindication, relief, or restoration. The lawyer, whether driven by professional duty, belief in the case, or livelihood, also participates in sustaining that hope. Yet, quietly, both parties often know a difficult truth: neither side is likely to get everything they seek.

Some cases do not end in perfect victories. They end in compromise. One party concedes something, the other accepts less than imagined, and the outcome is framed as a win-win simply because it is better than total loss. In this sense, litigation is not always about certainty; it is about possibility.

In many ways, litigation mirrors faith-based transactions we see elsewhere in society. A clergy may promise healing or prosperity, encouraging a believer to sow a seed-money, time, devotion- in exchange for hope. The miracle may come later, or not at all, but hope itself becomes the product. It sustains the believer, keeps them moving and keeps them alive. Hope is powerful. Without it, life feels bleak and directionless. Hope is often the reason people endure.

And litigation sells that same commodity.

Clients invest money, time, and emotional energy not only for a legal outcome, but for the hope that things might get better. That hope -of justice, of reversal, of survival- can be enough to carry someone through years of court appearances.

Yet hope is not always virtuous.

There are moments when hopelessness is clarifying. Losing hope can force a person to rethink, to step outside familiar paths, to consider alternatives they would never have entertained while clinging to a dying case. Sometimes, recognising that “this hope is a dead end” saves time, resources, and even lives.

Not every hope deserves preservation.

Some lawyers take on cases they know are legally weak -cases where the client is clearly at fault and where, if the law is applied faithfully, success is unlikely. Sometimes this is about fees. But often, it is also about offering the client something to look forward to: court dates, processes, adjournments, a sense of movement. For one, two, five, or even ten years, the client has purpose. And that sense of anticipation matters more to some people than the outcome itself.

In those moments, litigation is no longer just about rights. It becomes emotional scaffolding.

But there is a cost.

The longer false hope is sustained, the deeper the debt grows -financially, emotionally, socially. Time is wasted. Relationships suffer. Other people are dragged into prolonged conflict. Resources that could have built something new are spent maintaining something already broken.

Those who use litigation purely as a weapon of vengeance rarely see this cost. But the law remembers. Time remembers. The body remembers.

So while hope can keep you standing, wisdom lies in knowing when to hold on and when to let go.

Persistence matters. Endurance matters. But discernment matters more.

Because not every battle must be fought to the end, and not every hope is meant to survive.

 Tales from Litigation by Lawyer Fredericka