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Settlement versus trial

When we take a case we expect it will go to trial, and we prepare as if it’s going to trial. Sometimes cases settle at trial, at the steps of the courthouse, or during trial. We try to demonstrate along the way, during the deposition process, in an opening statement, or in mock trial how solid our preparation has been. We always seek to demonstrate that we are fully prepared to go to verdict. In one very substantial, record-breaking case that we had, the examination I did of our own expert was extremely compelling. I wanted the defendants to see what they had coming at them at trial because the difference between what a defendant’s questions will be like of our expert at trial is light years away from what the plaintiff’s lawyer’s questions will be of the same witness. There are times when I want the defendant to see my interrogation in order to encourage a settlement. I can elicit a very different case than the one that is brought out by the defendant in cross-examination. By the time the defendants get the case, to ask questions of our witnesses, it is too little, too late. The case is already over.

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