Lean and Mean Blog's Author Starts A Series Of Articles In "Corporate Counselor" Discussing How To Better Manage Litigation Costs

Time to blow my own horn a little.  Starting in this May's issue of The Corporate Counselor, an ALM newsletter subscribed to by approximately 4,000 general counsel across the country, this blog's author will  commence a series of articles detailing the basic principles that general counsel can and should employ to better manage their litigation matters - from both a cost and end result perspective.   These principles, of course, also apply to anyone who has to hire litigation counsel.

Rather than being comprised of nebulous fad concepts [e.g. RFPs (in the end merely a gussied up litigation budget) fee caps (a scary proposition for any client and really just another litigation budget under a different name)]promulgated by legal consultants who have never stepped foot in a courtroom or hollow claims about lean litigation practices by law firms whose current business model is based upon making profits off of having to increase the billable hours they charge their clients, the principles that are articulated in this series are based upon a simple common sense understanding of what litigation is all about and what general counsel (or anyone for that matter) need to do in order to better manage their litigation matters - regardless of the size or purported complexity of the case.

The principles discussed are ones derived from my over 29 years of in the trenches experience litigating with and against some of this country's best trial lawyers - where I have seen it all - from efficient best practices to bloated over-litigated efforts.

The first article discusses who to hire as outside litigation counsel and how to properly set up your litigation team [click here for full article]. It essentially conforms to my view that the best litigation teams are small - one to five lawyers - no matter what the size of the case in terms of dollars and that unless you have a commitment from the senior lawyer that you are hiring to head up the case that your matter is going to be one of their top one or two priorities then hire someone else - you don't want or need a high profile hit and run litigator heading up your case - you need someone who is going to live your case and treat it with the importance it deserves.