Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips

It was my policy over my 50 years of representing plaintiffs to refuse to agree to any form of confidentiality as an imposed requirement of settlement  by a  defendant. My policy was that clients were free to keep the information personally confidential and from media or public disclosure if they wanted to do so, but the defendant could not require it as a condition of settlement. In addition, my policy for accepting a case for a client was that I…

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. . .       . “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War For some time, most settlements have taken place through a mediation process rather than direct negotiation with the insurance company. However, settlement negotiations usually involve a letter sent to the insurance company, defense counsel or to a mediator. These settlement letters are the basis for outlining the case and the plaintiff’s position regarding settlement. While there are a…

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Several months ago my friend Don Keenan wrote about mediators and mediation in his blog www.keenantrialblog.com  “How to Handle the Bullying Mediator” I told him how on target his views were and gave him my views, which follow below.  To start with, when I began a plaintiff practice negotiation always involved discussions directly with the insurance adjuster, the insurance company or the defense lawyer. However, mediation has become a cottage industry and we should learn proper skills for doing it…

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