Would you agree with defendant in the following case?A woman sued a former boyfriend, seeking the return of personal property. The lawyer...

The answer to this depends on what question you are
asking.  If you are asking if the statute is too broad, we would have to know the
wording of the statute in question to judge.  If, however, you are asking if the woman's
action constituted an assault, the answer is clearly
no.

Let us look at the definition of assault from the link
below.  The link says that

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Generally, the essential elements of assault
consist of an act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact that
causes apprehension of such contact in the
victim.

None of these
elements appears to be present in this case.  First of all, the woman did not intend to
cause the lawyer to be afraid.  Second, the contact was not (depending on what contact
you are calling a "poke") harmful or offensive.  Finally, the contact should not have
caused any fear in the "victim."  The lawyer would surely have known that the woman was
not going to be able to physically harm him.

Therefore,
this contact is clearly not an assault.  It might be a
battery, but it is definitely not an assault.