Sellers with a good-faith belief in their ownership rights enter a landscape in which ethics and regulations are evolving, governments are increasingly assertive, and lawyers versed in arcane statutes are as necessary as jungle guides.
The couple's ordeal begins when Louise, an assertive corporate lawyer and superwoman, arrives home a day early from a business trip at the country house outside New York that she shares with Ian, her husband of 13 years.
He was energetic and assertive, every bit the trial lawyer, leaving Mr Salmond no room to wriggle out of tough questions (most notably, what the latter's "plan B" would be if London refused to let an independent Scotland keep the pound).
A lawyer can be assertive without being aggressive and obtain superior results for their clients regardless of the process involved.
"I think Irish people are becoming more aware of their health, and more assertive of their health rights," said Hugh Ward, a lawyer who is representing 50 bartenders in lawsuits against their employers.
Mr Bolton, a 56-year-old lawyer, is an unapologetic advocate of assertive US global leadership and has insisted on holding Iran and North Korea to account for their nuclear activities, along with voicing an interest in seeing both governments removed.
Over the past several days, Kleiner's head lawyer Lynne Hermle has mounted an assertive defense against Pao's claims of gender discrimination and retaliation.
Lawyers and others in China have been increasingly assertive in recent years regarding rights already promised under China's Constitution.
As the story goes, Puffy's was named for a Second World War Navy veteran, and for decades was more accustomed to serving tin-plate lunches (with assertive shots of whiskey) to longshoremen than happy-hour Martinis to lawyers and bankers.
Both colleagues and lawyers who have argued before her agree that her style is assertive.
