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“I was never ruined but twice: once when I lost a lawsuit, and once when I won one.” ― Voltaire Where US civil litigation (disputes) are concerned, a good law
by howmayiannoyyou 4y ago
“I was never ruined but twice: once when I lost a lawsuit, and once when I won one.”
― Voltaire
Where US civil litigation (disputes) are concerned, a good lawyer looks to end the dispute before the cost of litigation approaches the value of the dispute. Once might argue the feature and bug of US tort law is the litigation becomes a third party in the case, against whom both sides must fight, hopefully finding a common enemy in its cost. If the cost is not enough to settle the dispute, you can add the unpredictability of judges and juries who on any given day can invert the obvious, wrecking a 'winnable' case.
A great lawyer, as opposed to a good one, keeps your fees down as you heads to trial against an opponent with seemingly unlimited money and appetite for litigation. They accomplish this by focusing on the core dispute and ignoring ancillary matters, often making their client (wrongly) question how committed they are to their case.
In sum, a good lawyer manages their client (always pushing internally for settlement), works to keep fees down until discovery closes, sows doubt in the other's sides confidence, establishes credibility with the Judge, and shows up meticulously prepared for trial.
As a thought exercise, imagine how hard all this is to do when you dislike your client, your managing partner is on you to increase billings, your kids need braces, and you're hoping to save a few bucks for retirement and an escape from a profession filled with bad lawyers.
- 77pt77 4y ago>“I was never ruined but twice: once when I lost a lawsuit, and once when I won one.” Says the man that made his fortune by winning a lawsuit when he rigged the lottery.
- kurthr 4y agoTIL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/voltaire-enlightenment-philosopher-and-lottery-scammer-180967265/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/voltaire-enlighten...
- thesausageking 4y agoA great lawyer can also cause the other side to spend a ton of money responding discovery requests and motions. In fact, a common strategy is to get the other side's legal bill to be so high they eventually give up. I've seen this kill multiple startups who end up in disputes with large tech companies. Even if the startup is 100% in the right, the large co can tie them up in a lawsuit for years and VCs won't back a startup actively involved in a lawsuit, so the startup runs out of money before the case is ever decided.
- ape4 4y agoLike a DOS attack
- ABCLAW 4y agoThis isn't a "great lawyer" play . It's the standard play for any unscrupulous party engaged against a party with limited funds. Even if a case is pretty open and shut, you can tie it up for years in motions for little benefit. This isn't hard at all.It's hard to be on the other side and respond to it. A great lawyer can achieve a settlement against a party like this without the need to throw sacks of cash onto a firepit.
- staticman2 4y ago"A great lawyer can achieve a settlement against a party like this without the need to throw sacks of cash onto a firepit." A lawyer, good or bad, has no control whether the other party settles.
- shon 4y agoThis is incorrect in my experience. My company was sued by LinkedIn about a year after receiving a $1MM seed round. We were low on money with about $250K left and raising when the suit hit. This is a game of leverage. Lawyers are tools that have to be used effectively to apply leverage. Like any tool, good ones make a big difference. At the time LI was worth about $30 Billion, we had $250K. We convinced LinkedIn to settle after about 4 months in SF court for a nominal amount. Good/ethical lawyers were critical along with significant creativity from our side on how to use them. We survived, raised a round and the company is still kicking.
- staticman2 4y agoIf Linkedin decided they wanted to put you out of business the lawyer would not be able to arrange a settlement. A lawyer does not even control whether their own client settles.