1. Early case analysis. Your company’s “case” may arise in many ways: You may have been threatened with suit by a competitor, a customer, a present or former employee, or by a federal or state agency. Or you may already have been sued by one of these persons. Or you may believe you have a serious and substantial claim against a competitor, a former employee, or a public entity. And you may have a number of law firms that have served as litigation counsel for you in this particular type of case (and field of law), and in the particular state where you have been sued (or threatened to be sued). If so, and if you feel confident that one (or more) of these firms is the “right” firm for this case, then you do not need SLC.
On the other hand, if do not have such a firm in mind, then we can help you. First and foremost, we can help you through “early case analysis.” Based on more than 40 years as a courtroom lawyer—for both plaintiffs and defendants-- in virtually every field of civil litigation, in the federal and state courts of more than 30 states, and in scores of trials, SLC can provide “early case analysis” of the situation: What are the central issues in the case, the ones that will be of “legal significance” if the case proceeds into (and through) litigation? On each of those issues, how well established (or unsettled) is the governing law? (It is surprising how often the governing law is well established, and easily identified.)
And on each of those issues, what are the facts, as they are currently known to be? How much additional inquiry is necessary to root out the facts on each issue? How large is the volume of documents in need of such review? How extensive is the list of individuals who must be interviewed? These are matters on which we can work with your inside counsel, your business personal, your outside transactional counsel, whoever is appropriate.
2. Selection of Counsel. Here too, if you do not have particular law firms in mind for the particular kind of case (or in the particular jurisdiction) , we can be of assistance. As noted, we have handled cases in more than 30 states, have been an equity partner in Am Law 100 law firms with offices in the major East Coast, Midwest and West Coast cities, and have been active in major professional organizations. With this wealth of experience and meaningful contacts, we can (a) help you identify the most suitable firms, and the most suitable litigators within those firms in most venues, small towns to big cities, in most states, (b) effect suitable introductions for you, and (c) play any role you desire in the counsel-interviewing and selection process, including in the negotiation of the terms and conditions of the representation.
3. Negotiation of the terms of counsel retention. There will be intense competition from many impeccably-qualified litigators at many first-rate law firms. As the prospective client, you have the bargaining power in the counsel-selection process, and therefore in setting the terms and conditions of the relationship. All first-rate law firms have “standard hourly rates” for each of their lawyers, from junior associate to senior partner. But these rates are highly negotiable. More bluntly, nobody pays full price anymore. A discount of at least ten percent is yours for the asking.
Moreover, all first-rate law firms are open to alternate fee arrangements, e.g., part-fixed/part-contingent; flat-fee-with-success-bonus; discounted-rates-with-success-bonus. But just as important (and negotiable) as “fees” is “staffing.” You want to be assured of a specific “team” to handle your case. Any firm that seriously wants your business will agree to name in the retention agreement the particular partners and associates who will be working on your case. Firms do not want to make this commitment. But to secure your business, ultimately they will yield. There are other terms to be negotiated, but we leave a discussion of them to a later day.
4. Prediction of outcomes. No litigator can “guarantee” an outcome. Nor would he be permitted by his law firm to do so. But every first-rate, highly-experienced litigator can (and routinely does) “predict outcomes,” even if just a “range of outcomes.” At the outset of the case, and throughout its life.
“Highly-experienced” means that a litigator has handled many, many cases that are just like your case. And, based on the outcomes in those many, many cases, he can predict the “range of outcomes” in your case—qualified, of course, by the then-available knowledge of the facts of the case. Having engaged for more than 40 years in the “prediction of outcomes,” we can work with the litigators you are considering (or the ones you have chosen), on developing the “range of outcomes.” Remember: you would not choose a heart-or-brain surgeon without first receiving from him a predicted “range of outcomes.”
5. Prediction of fees and costs. Just as highly-experienced, first-rate litigators can conduct meaningful “early case analysis,” and offer early-case “prediction of outcomes,” so too can they offer meaningful “prediction of fees and costs.” This is best done by a focus on stages in the life of the case: How many attorney hours (and at what levels of seniority) will be needed to master the facts sufficient to draft the complaint? Or, as defendant, how many such hours to draft an answer, or a motion to dismiss (or for summary judgment) in lieu of answer? If the choice is made to file a dispositive motion, what will the full briefing-and-argument cycle cost? And, while the motion is pending, how much internal “fact discovery” is needed?
Other than interviewing critical company personnel and ensuring full company document preservation, very little discovery may be needed while a dispositive motion is pending. Whatever the necessary amount of such threshold discovery, what will the cost be? This too is simply a matter of estimating necessary attorney hours (and seniority levels of the attorneys in question). If the case proceeds beyond dispositive motion practice, the same type of step-by-step analysis should be used concerning each of the stages. Of course, these analyses can be conducted at the outset of the case, and revised as the case proceeds. We can assist you at the early stages, or throughout the life of the case, all depending on how long you want us to be involved.
6. Ongoing case analysis and recommendations. Once you have hired, and are up-and-running, with the highly-experienced, first-rate lawyer who will handle the case, including with a clear shared understanding of the estimated fees, costs, range of outcomes and decision points, you probably will have no further need for us. But if you do, we will be available to assist as requested.