Communication
We do something that is increasingly rare within the legal community – we communicate with our clients.  It may sound obvious, but lack of communication is noted in industry surveys over and over as the #1 frustration of clients when working with lawyers. Our reporting is tailored to keep our clients fully informed at each significant stage of the case, including providing evaluation and activity reports on an agreed-upon basis. No client has time to listen to legal theory all day and spend endless conversations (at the lawyer’s hourly rate) about extraneous details. Our clients want to know if they can still expect to achieve an acceptable solution to their commercial problems. 

We start our work in every matter by asking you what you expect to achieve from the work we do. We shape that discussion into a set of goals for resolution of the commercial problem. Reaching those goals becomes the reason you hire us and pay our fees. We get that.

Our clients can control how the case is handled by controlling the agreed objectives of the case itself. Twists and turns in any case provide the occasion to revisit goals and verify the objectives. At the end of the day, there are few surprises, no panicked calls from the courthouse steps. Instead, our cases start out with clear objectives.  We follow through with reports that keep clients informed and validate the litigation goals or we may recommend more or less aggressive responses. The case is managed.

 Litigation Process
There are cases that need to be tried and won, but with increasing frequency many cases by their nature lead toward settlement. This is likely attributable to the costs of litigation, the uncertainty of jury awards in some jurisdictions and the great increase in the use of alternate dispute resolution. We are skilled in the management of the flow of money in those cases..  Too many law firms double or triple the exposure of a claim because of their fees.  We are in business to establish long-term relationships with our clients based on trust, respect, and doing what is best for our clients, not making the most money possible from a single case. 

• We are aggressive litigators. But our attitude is more aggressive towards attaining a case resolution consistent with your commercial objectives. “Mad Dog” lawyers just cost you money..

• Whenever consistent with our client’s goals, we will work to resolve the case as quickly as possible to lower costs and free up working capital and reserves. 

• We use a case management procedure that assists us in working with you to develop a detailed litigation plan.

• We divide cases into phases of activity with specific objectives we have established by communicating with each other.

Some Valid Questions 

When considering how your attorneys work with you, ask yourself:  

1. Am I kept informed?

2. Do I have a chance to participate in the decisions that are made?

3. Do we spend our money wisely along the way?

4. Do we benefit from the money that we spent?

5. Do we have clearly articulated goals and objectives as we continue to litigate?

6. Do we accomplish those goals and achieve those objectives? 

7. Do the lawyers actually help me do my job better?

Our lawyers are trained to ask and answer these questions in a self-critical way designed to continuously improve our service: 

1. Did I keep the client informed?

2. Did I give the client a chance to participate in the decisions that were made?

3. Did I spend the client’s money wisely along the way?

4. Did the client benefit from the money we spent?

5. Did we set clearly articulated goals and objectives as we continued to litigate?

6. Did we accomplish those goals and achieve those objectives?

7. Did I help my client contact do his/her job better?