Meaningful Litigation Plans

Once you have assembled your outside litigation team, selected who is best equipped to manage outside counsel on your behalf, and arrived at your fee arrangements, the real work begins. You must develop a cogent litigation plan and then, most importantly, execute it. Sounds easy, but for many of you who have had seemingly well-designed litigation plans and budgets torn asunder on the rocks and shoals of real life litigation, finding the Holy Grail might seem easier. Fret not ' there is a pathway toward developing more meaningful litigation plans. To do so, however, will require most in-house counsel to change theirs and their outside counsel's attitude and approach to litigation.

Because most companies are usually defendants, most litigation plans are structured around the various desired winning endpoints that can result in the termination of the case prior to trial (e.g., motion to dismiss, summary judgment etc.). Few cases are tried these days because those cases that aren't ended via a pre-trial endpoint usually settle. As a result, most lawyers litigate with an eye toward settlement rather than trial. In fact, many defense teams view having to go to trial as a failure of sorts.