Add Your PerspectiveDecember 28, 2008

Early Case Assessments: An Updated Index to Settlement Perspectives’ ECA Posts

“If you and the other side value the case differently, at least one of you is wrong.”  Settlement Perspectives’ Early Case Assessment series started with this premise, and there’s more on this topic to come.

This is a quick index to Early Case Assessment posts on Settlement Perspectives so you can find them all in one place — and we’ll be sure to keep this list updated as new ECA content arrives.

Early Case Assessment Posts:  An Index

ECA posts on Settlement Perspectives include the following:

• Easier Said Than Done: Early Case Assessments Part I: The Definition of Early Case Assessment — and a brief discussion of what it’s not.
• The Early Case Assessment Checklist: Early Case Assessments Part II: The 15 items on the Early Case Assessment Checklist, grouped by category to keep them organized.
• Putting the Checklist into Action: Early Case Assessments Part III: Four important ideas, admittedly based on mistakes I have made, that will make your ECA efforts more effective.
• Better Settlements from Better Information: Early Case Assessments IV: Why, if you plan to settle your case, a thorough ECA will be worth the investment it will require.
• Better Docket Management Through Early Case Assessments: ECAs Part V:  More than a few reasons why ECA is a good idea even if you don’t plan to settle.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Categories: ECA, Fundamentals, Selected Posts, Settlement

2 PerspectivesNovember 11, 2008

Better Docket Management Through Early Case Assessments: ECAs Part V

Early Case Assessments drive better settlements — we discussed why in Part IV, but we haven’t talked about whether an Early Case Assessment is a good idea if you don’t plan to settle. If yours is the lawsuit sure to go to trial, does an ECA still make sense? I think you know the answer.

It takes time, effort and money to make your way through the Early Case Assessment Checklist, but Early Case Assessments mean better case management — and more responsible docket management — even if your case goes the distance. This post will highlight how you’ll save money, and ultimately get better results overall, with Early Case Assessments whether you settle or not. More…

Categories: ECA, Miscellaneous

Add Your PerspectiveNovember 7, 2008

Better Settlements From Better Information: Early Case Assessments IV

“You can pay them, or you can pay me.  But don’t pay us both.”  My friend Robert Manley told me that as we sent him a new lawsuit a few years ago, and his quote sums up one of Early Case Assessments’ biggest benefits.  As we have discussed before, getting your ECA done — gathering the information required by the Early Case Assessment Checklist discussed in Part II and Part III of this series — requires an up-front investment.  This post will tell you why, if you plan to settle your case, a thorough Early Case Assessment will be worth that investment.

More…

Categories: ECA, Miscellaneous, Negotiation, Settlement, Strategy, Tactics

Add Your PerspectiveOctober 28, 2008

Putting the Checklist into Action: Early Case Assessments Part III

In Part II of this series we outlined the 15 elements of the Early Case Assessment checklist, but a checklist alone isn’t enough.  How an ECA works in practice — actually getting what’s on the ECA checklist done — isn’t quite the paint-by-numbers exercise it might seem to be.  The following are 4 important ideas, admittedly based on mistakes I have made, that will make your ECA efforts more effective.

1.  Agree on the Goal

The logical starting point for any case assessment is to gather the facts, but I have learned the hard way that a quick dash for the facts isn’t really where to start.  Since the effort will require information, documents and cooperation from a number of people, the first step in an Early Case Assessment is to educate witnesses and stakeholders immediately that delay is no longer the strategy. Whether the client is a first-time litigant or frequently defends cases, everyone involved needs to understand that the company will be giving management, or the firm will be giving its client, a full report on the case by January 12th (or whatever date you pick). We won’t be waiting for three months for the “legal wrangling” this time. More…

Categories: Communication, ECA, Fundamentals, Miscellaneous