Your relationship with your attorney is often like your relationship with other people in your life. There are good times and there are rocky times. If the relationship is strong, it will survive the rocky times.

But, there are a couple of big differences.

Your lawyer has specialized knowledge and experience, which is the reason you retained her.

When the case is over, it is likely you will pay your lawyer for the legal work she has done. If you don't listen to her advice, then it's probably wasted money.

This assumes that you have chosen an ethical, honest and competent lawyer. If you haven't then you've got other issues. (I'll address how to choose a lawyer in a future post.)

If you have chosen an ethical, honest and competent lawyer, then you should trust her legal advice, even if the advice is not what you want to hear.

If you have questions about the advice, you must talk with your lawyer about the advice. It's critical that the lawyer explains why she is advising you to do or not to do something. If you don't understand the reasons, then the lawyer probably isn't communicating effectively, and you should insist she explain it to you effectively.

You obviously don't have to follow the lawyer's advice. But if you do understand it, and the lawyer is ethical, honest and competent, you should probably follow the advice, even if you don't like it.

Here's something completely different I saw in my backyard recently: