Make peace, not war could be the mantra of Nixon Peabody LLP attorneys, Marc Fried and Adam Gilbert.

Despite an enviable record of landmark cases--three of which generated new laws--the partners view their role among the city's top real estate litigators as one of peace-makers intent on finding a solution to a problem.

"We don't fight for the sake of fighting," said Gilbert, former general counsel to Insignia Financial Corp. whose 1992 case, Bass vs. Tax Commission not only resulted in a $33 million judgment against the City of New York, but generated a new law concerning the way property is valued when asbestos is present.

"There are lots of litigators who say they go for the jugular and that means fighting rather than offering the client some real judgment as to the best thing to do to resolve a situation. Sometimes it may mean you have to fight, but sometimes you may not."

Fried cites as an example of the pair's court whisperer approach a recent case involving a six-figure commission dispute.

Rather than filing an immediate law suit and starting the process of litigation--a process that can develop a life of its own and drag on sometimes for several years--the partners sent a letter to the other party's attorney and followed up with a face-to-face meeting. When the other side appeared to balk at the offer on the table, Fried and Gilbert drafted a complaint but, instead of filing it, sent a copy to the opposing counsel.

"We asked them just to think about how strong our case was," said Fried. "In a matter of days, the whole matter was resolved.

"Resolving the issue and getting the client a resolution with the least interruption to his business was the goal. We would have benefited [financially] from a three year litigation, but we are trying to develop a process of ongoing relationships with clients, not to make as much money as we can, as fast as we can.

"We aim to give clients the best advice, even when the best advice is not advice that is going to generate a lot of legal fees."

Like many of the real estate industry's most successful partnerships, Fried and Gilbert complement each other in character as well as purpose. Both have a staunch belief in providing their clients with an honest and straightforward assessment of their positions, and developing relationships with their clients is paramount to their litigation strategy.