Communicating with senior lawyers would always be easy if every matter proceeded exactly as planned. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case. Information may be missing or incomplete, people who should have provided you with the inputs you need may fail to do so, and bureaucrats and officials may prove far less than cooperative than you had hoped. A plethora of problems, obstacles, and issues can arise in the course of most matters, often without any warning at all.

While handling all of...