by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting A little more than a month ago, I surveyed our readership and asked, "how does in-house counsel hire outside litigation counsel?" Six possible answers were presented in random order. In-house chooses the lowest priced firm from a group of approved firms. In-house hires the best litigator based on prior experience. In-house hires the best litigator based on their reputation. In-house hires their litigator friends and former (or future) colleagues. In-house hires the litigator most likely to generate a win. Finally, a write-in field for other responses answers Having worked in the litigation industry for more than 20 years and seeing favoritism trump skill plenty of times, I expected some cynicism to show through in the answers provided. However, even with that expectation, I was still very surprised with the results.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting We often work on large cases, and large cases often have joint defense teams. A joint defense team is simply a group of law firms working for a group of clients and/or working on some issues together in a case. Some joint defense teams work together brilliantly. It's like watching the best NFL players come together for the Pro Bowl game when each of them plays as a member of the same team. In a trial, sometimes the whole “dream team” unites to prevail. It's a beautiful thing to watch -- when it works. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work that way very often. In a recent engagement I watched a well-organized team in the run-up to trial perform beautifully. They had sorted out communication, who handled what issues, leadership, client communications, and billing arrangements with no apparent drama. I can contrast that with any number of large cases where the opposite is true. These are unfortunately the majority of joint defense efforts. In these cases, turf battles are common. As much time is spent on politics as is spent on winning the case. I suspect cases have been lost entirely because a joint defense effort has failed.
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder/CEO A2L Consulting
by Ken Lopez Founder & CEO A2L Consulting "I've got a case I might need some help with." That's how it usually starts when someone, usually a first or second chair litigator, reaches out to me at A2L Consulting.
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