Dispute Settlement Counsel

Most people involved in a dispute think the first step to resolving it is filing a complaint in court and commencing litigation.  Then, you basically turn the case over to your lawyers and wait to hear good news from them about the results.  Those unschooled in litigation think that very shortly after that, the case will settle, because “all cases settle”, and they will get a nice chunk of money without much time, cost or trauma.

Others think that within a time about as quick as you can pick up your remote, turn on one of many weekly series’ involving trials, and watch the show, your case will be tried, your lawyer will stand up and make some charismatic closing argument like the ones on TV, and your “slam dunk” case will be won.

All of the above notions and suppositions — except for one, that being that all cases settle — are very far from the truth. They are myths, perpetuated by TV, societal trends and “thinking” and by the legal profession itself.  It is true that over 98% of the cases filed with courts do settle.  The problem is that in most cases, that resolution or settlement comes far too late in the game, long after you have spent a lot of your money, years have gone by, and you have lived through what most people come to realize is the nightmare called litigation.  It needs to happen much earlier, but litigation is not the direct route to results.

Dispute resolution should not begin with filing a suit.  That should be the last resort, not a first step, toward solving the problem.  If you begin trying to solve your problem by suing the other party, you will in fact turn the case over to your lawyers.  You have essentially just declared war on the other party, and as we all know, no war is ever a short or painless, and things are no longer in your control.

Dispute resolution begins with Preventive Law.  It’s neither the part of the law that is sexy or dramatic like TV, nor what people talk about.  In fact it is a part of the dispute resolution spectrum that is largely overlooked by most lawyers, who don’t even include it in that spectrum.

But for you, the person running your business, dealing with employees, involved in many contractual relationships, involved in transactions, working through some difficult family dynamic, facing challenges in your social enterprise or mission-based organization, focus on this notion above all others:

Solving disputes begins with preventing them from ever arising.  And your lawyer provides you far greater value when he or she works with you early on preventively and proactively as a trusted counselor to anticipate problems, address them before they arise and have mechanisms already in place ahead of time that are efficient methods of dealing with the problems if and when they do arise.

You’ll never see a TV show about preventive law or about how your proactive legal counselor saved you money, time, and shielded you from the collateral damage and headaches that weigh down and preoccupy your other business associates and colleagues.  They may tell great stories about how their lawyers is going to bury the other side, how they have spent thousands of dollars in legal fees, how their lawyers are tying up the other side for years, blah, blah, blah.  You’ll have to be content to share your stories about how you have put your time, energy and money into a successful business effort, or the next exciting accomplishment for your organization, or how happy your staff is to work at your company.  Or maybe you’ll have to be content to just smile that quiet, but oh so satisfying smile.

Your legal counselor may not be giving you fodder for telling tales to your friends.  But if your lawyer has Preventive Law and early intervention in his tool box where those other lawyers keep their litigation weapons, your lawyer is giving you these things:  Value, peace of mind, your time, energy and money to invest in ways that produce positive results.

Preventive Law and proactive legal counsel?  Priceless!