Articles Posted in Litigation is (Usually) a Waste

The Point

Consider federal district court Judge Vince Chhabria’s observation in ordering Meta (Facebook) and its law firm, Gibson Dunn, to pay almost $1 million to their opponents in In re Facebook Inc. on February 9.

“This case is an example of a wealthy client (Facebook) and its high-powered law firm (Gibson Dunn) using delay, misdirection, and frivolous arguments to make litigation unfairly difficult and expensive for their opponents. Unfortunately, this sort of conduct is not uncommon in our court system.”

However disapproving judges may be on the rare occasions when they take time to look into it, the legal profession tolerates — often encourages — scorched-earth courtroom tactics. Even among America’s most celebrated companies and leading law firms, litigation too often imposes catastrophically wasteful costs on a business before any judgment has been rendered. Continue reading

The Point

Primary responsibility for settling conflicts between your company and a party outside of it should lie squarely with the executive who runs the affected business unit or corporate function:

“Businesspeople need to resolve the disputes in which they are involved.” “Give it to the lawyers” should be a last resort.

But for now, “give it to the lawyers” is the go-to move that prevails in most American companies. Continue reading

The Point

“B2B litigation is a sign of business failure”.

So writes Patrick J. Lamb, a distinguished corporate trial lawyer, who, along with another prominent trial attorney, Nicole Auerbach, founded Valorem Law Group in 2008, now ElevateNext Law. Their innovation: Ditch the billable hour, and bring alternative fee arrangements to the mainstream, as they defend in court companies that have been sued. Continue reading