well the first

thing that i would want clients to

understand

is that at times not all the time

litigation is extraordinarily stressful

they will find themselves in

uncomfortable positions they will find

themselves having to talk about things

uh to opposing counsel and even

ultimately in the courtroom if it’s not

settled that they

might not want to talk about or don’t

want to talk about and they they need to

get comfortable

with that so there’s stress

there’s discomfort

litigation is inefficient

horribly inefficient

in

any state or federal court

it’s just a matter of degree

so clients will face endless delays i

tell clients litigation and delays go

hand in hand you’re going to become

frustrated really frustrated at times

litigation is expensive in two ways

the obvious way is legal fees and

associated expenses like the cost of

expert witnesses they’re generally very

expensive sometimes much more expensive

than lawyers

who are charging by the hour if they are

charging by the hour

in addition to that

there is the time that the client and

and client personnel if the client is a

business are going to lose

when they have to devote themselves to

becoming part of the litigation team to

feeding us

all of the facts not just good facts all

of the facts the facts they’re happy to

tell us about

and especially the facts they don’t want

to tell us about

the production of documents the

production of records

the production of emails the searches

that have to be done

electronically in the modern era all of

those activities are incredibly time

consuming and they’re going to take

client representatives again i’m talking

about a client business but it would

apply to an individual litigant client

as well it’s going to take them away

from their day-to-day activities for

meaningful periods of time

and sometimes under deadlines that will

not be convenient for them they need to

be prepared for all of that if you’re a

plaintiff

and

therefore you don’t by definition have

to be in litigation

i always explain to the to the potential

plaintiff client

what they’re going to face

if they pull the trigger and sue

and i tell them if you’re not prepared

to go all in

and do it properly you’re wasting your

time and you’re wasting your money

better not to do it at all

if you can make the commitment and and

do it right and do it to the best of

your ability because we’re going to do

it to the best of our ability you can be

certain of that

then go for it if you can’t save your

money save your time swallow hard and

move on

if you’re the defendant of course you

don’t have that choice you’ve been sued

but

if it’s something that you can’t commit

to

then we have to try to find make extra

efforts to find ways to settle the case

because

if you can’t commit to it

it’s not going to work well and what you

spend in time and money is likely to be

wasted so it’s very important that you

understand what you’re facing those are

the absolutely most important things

collaboration i was saying before the

client and client representatives must

really become part of the team it’s very

important work with the lawyers

trust your lawyer they’re going to be

things that will happen that you won’t

understand if you don’t understand them

and you’re concerned about them speak up

about them have a candid conversation

about them if there are things that

happen that you don’t like and there

probably will be talk about those things

be open with your lawyer so you can

trust the lawyer because you’re going to

be in the foxhole together and as i say

it will be uncomfortable at times

be realistic about your goals and work

with your lawyer to be realistic about

your goals your lawyer

should help you understand what’s

achievable what might be achievable

what’s not achievable and take your

emotion out of it

remember that your sense of fairness

your sense of justice

might not align with

the law and the facts of the case work

with your lawyer to be realistic and

understand what’s probably achievable

and what probably is not and lastly be

open to settlement

settlement is not defeat

i talk to clients about responsible

settlements that means

something where

you give up things as the client that

you wanted

that probably makes sense for you to

give up on a cost-benefit basis when you

look at the cost and the uncertainty and

the risk of continuing the fight

and you look at what you can get in the

way of certainty through a settlement

that may make sense

if it doesn’t

seem responsible after a rational

analysis then keep going

and don’t feel bullied into a settlement

but be open

to a settlement because

settlement does take the uncertainty

out of the litigation process which is

loaded with uncertainty

and it it stops the cost

it puts an end to it lastly i guess

just bear in mind

big parts of the litigation process are

unpleasant

they’re designed to be unpleasant

everybody who goes through the

litigation process

will will tell the novice who’s never

been through it

it’s going to be unpleasant at times

expect that