Disruptive Lawyers Deliver Early Resolutions and REAL Savings

People are more important than process!!!

We’re several years into the “Litigation Management Era,” and yet claims managers, company risk managers, etc. continue to face the same challenge: early resolution and real savings remain elusive. They feel they have the processes in place to succeed, but continue to fail.

What they may not appreciate is that while processes are important, the real key is that people—that is, great dealmakers—are far more important! In sum, great processes can keep a Dinosaur Lawyer somewhat harnessed. But great dealmakers with the right mindset and skill set have your processes ingrained in their approach and execution.

As you’ll see in the story below, negotiating skills are what turn a case from a money pit to an efficient and reasonable resolution.

PEOPLE are the key.

And they’ll keep your legal fees and indemnity down while they’re at it.

Don’t believe me? Keep reading for some real PROOF of the existence of unicorns!!

Let’s disrupt something.

Bill

MASTERS OF NEGOTIATION

Join me for Cruser Mitchell’s Masters of Negotiation series and come away with the skills you need to save legal fees and indemnity by creatively and efficiently resolving cases.

February 7 — Playing Chess Instead of Checkers: A Strategic Approach to Negotiation

February 14 — Soft Skills of a Master Negotiator

February 21 — The Leverage Point of Plaintiff’s Needs

February 28 — The Leverage Point of Collectability

March 6 — The Theatre of Mediation

March 13 — Negotiating Claims Valued Under $50,000

March 20 — Identifying the 1% that will Go to Trial

Great Negotiators Deliver Unicorn Results

Over the past year, I have traveled far and wide speaking on The Disruptive Lawyer’s Little Black Book of Litigation Management. I have also attended several CE’s and symposiums on litigation management. Claims managers and company risk managers continue to complain about the same thing: “We have put processes in place, but early resolution and real savings remain elusive. It’s like searching for a unicorn.” 

My friends, process is—at best 50% of the equation—but likely way less.

As the Disruptive Lawyer book advises, the key to successful litigation management is process and people—people who are great negotiators! 

There is no question the industry is clinging to process and not focusing on hiring great negotiators. Indeed, a recent CLM survey of insurance and risk management professionals found that a whopping 43% believe process is more important than negotiating skill. Frankly, for the other 57% who agree negotiating is a unique skill, they clearly don’t emphasize it in their evaluation of counsel. Specifically, another survey question inquired as to the top reasons these entities have terminated a lawyer from panel counsel. The overwhelming reasons for termination were related to responsiveness and communication. Incredibly, termination of counsel for “bad negotiating skills” occurred a mere 1.6% of the time!

“Bad negotiating skills” should be in the top one or two reasons to terminate counsel. Indeed, when around 92% of all cases settle, is there a more important skill set than negotiation?

Clearly, the industry believes in great negotiators as much as they believe in unicorns.

Recognizing this, we started sharing Disruptive Lawyer Stories (there is now a separate 

book compiling these stories) about great negotiating results. The goal was to educate and show the nonbelievers that while perhaps one or two extraordinary results could be “lucky,” after they read 20 stories resulting in multi-million dollar savings in indemnity and legal fees, maybe they would conclude that great negotiators DO make a significant difference. In sum, GREAT NEGOTIATORS ARE THE UNICORN! 

UNICORN RESULTS IN GEORGIA 

Here is another example showing that great negotiators can make a significant difference. 

In Georgia, where there have been crazy verdicts, Cruser Mitchell has been a go-to firm for “time limited demands for policy limits” (e.g. Holt bad faith demands) in catastrophic cases where the CARRIER’S evaluation was to “Pay the entire limits per the terms of the demand." 

TOTAL POLICY LIMITS/DEMANDS: $31,000,000 

TOTAL SETTLEMENTS: $22,185,000 

TOTAL INDEMNITY SAVINGS: $8,815,000

TOTAL LEGAL FEES: $295,000

Want to learn more about how hiring a Disruptive Lawyer can help you save time, sanity, and legal fees? Sign up for the Masters of Negotiation webinar via the link above!

Announcements and Congratulations

Robb Cruser and I are honored to be the first guests of Meghan Henry’s new podcast, Claims Never Sleep!

We had a great conversation about the importance of picking the right partners, hiring the right people, and developing the right culture and how our industry leading litigation management philosophy developed.

At Cruser Mitchell, we’re proud to say we’ve picked the right partners 9 times out of 10. The tenth time we ignored all the advice above—and frankly our wives saw it before we did and called us out on our dumb decision.

In sum, we did not make that mistake again.

To hear more of our “brilliant” advice, check out the first episode of Claims Never Sleep here.

Additionally, I wanted to share huge congratulations to CLM Professional of the Year finalists Jason Feld, of Kahana Feld, and Frances O’Meara, of Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman. It’s an honor to be in your company!

Dinosaur of the Month

Let’s walk through a recent REAL LIFE example of how Dinosaur Lawyers increase legal billing on each file with unnecessary tasks (the names and facts have been edited a bit to protect the innocent 😊).

It’s a clear liability case involving wrongful eviction. Both sides agree. Plaintiff sues the landlord and an employee who entered premises unlawfully. The insurance company determines there is a conflict and retains two law firms. There are no defenses and the damages are mostly non-economic with a serious punitive damages issue so the focus of the case is on “value.” Plaintiff serves with the complaint substantial written discovery.

Here’s what the Dinosaur Lawyer recommended for “Case Handling” upon receiving the assignment:

💸 Prepare and file answer (cha-ching!)

💸 Meet with client and review discovery responses (cha-ching!)

💸 Prepare discovery responses (cha-ching!)

💸 Prepare discovery to be served on Plaintiff (cha-ching!)

💸 Budget through written discovery: $20,000 (cha-ching!)

I’m not against a lawyer billing hours, but what about the above moves the ball forward in determining value and/or developing leverage to diminish the value of the case? How about NOTHING?

This is the trademark of a professional Dinosaur. They are so stuck in their outdated and nonstrategic ways that they continue to bill, bill, bill despite their obsession with process offering NO benefit to the client.

We recommended instead to stay the case, informally exchange discovery and head to mediation. In effect, the legal fees through mediation were only $7,500, saving at least $12,500 in fees. This is not a crazy amount of savings, but imagine if you give 100 cases to a Disruptive Lawyer who executed with the right mindset and skill set on all 100 cases—the savings would literally be in the millions!

There is NO excuse for this Dinosaur mentality!!!

The Disruptive Lawyer’s Tequila Corner

I feel like every single person around me is getting sick right now, hacking up a lung on Zooms and sneezing during meetings.

If you’re sick, here’s an excuse for a nice cocktail, despite what your doctor might tell you: tequila with lime and salt was the 1918 version of a cough drop!

If you add a little bit of mint, I can see how you could trick yourself into thinking it’d work. So, here’s how to make a Tequila Mojito:

• 1.5 oz blanco tequila

• 1 oz sparkling water

• .75 oz simple syrup

• .75 oz lime juice

• 3 sprigs of mint

• 1 lime wedge

In a mixing glass, muddle two of the sprigs of mint in the simple syrup, then add the tequila and lime juice. Shake with ice until chilled, then strain, top with the sparkling water and stir. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a lime wedge.

Cheers!

Ready to get a little disruptive?

Join me for some Disruptive Litigation Advisement.

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