The world of litigation is rapidly evolving. Learn how to get more from your investments, improve outcomes, and seize the opportunities inherent in change.
Build the Bottom LineCorporate legal departments that hire a nationwide company to provide deposition services for their law firms may be requiring some of their firms to adapt to new ways of doing business. However, many law firms find that these types of arrangements have advantages.
Drive Better OutcomesA Q&A with Esquire CEO Terrie Campbell The first in a regular series of Q&A’s with friends, clients and employees of Esquire.
Navigate Litigation 2.0Much has changed since I left full-time litigation. Back then, and we’re talking fewer than five years ago (lest I sound like an old man lamenting my two-way uphill walk to school), nobody I knew was using the deposition technology that’s available today. Almost everything happened in person, and the work product was usually trapped in paper.
Navigate Litigation 2.0Unfortunately, cybercriminals see law departments and firms as enticing targets: They are replete with financial data, personal information (such as the plaintiff registry in a class action), and the kind of confidential information that tips multimillion-dollar cases. As the ABA (PDF) put it: Law firms are targets for two general reasons: (1) they obtain, store […]
Build the Bottom LineSome of the most impactful moments of my career are tied to the pro bono work I’ve done. Without pro bono, it’s unlikely that I would’ve had the opportunity to participate in a Supreme Court case (PDF). But as thrilling as that was, it was the pro bono representation of a widow who had lost faith in the legal system that sticks out as a highlight of my career.
Build the Bottom LineAs my company’s general counsel, I depend heavily on my outside law firms and lawyers. I value these relationships – and my lawyers do, too, since I pay their bills. I’m writing this post to help outside lawyers keep inside counsel happy.
Drive Better OutcomesWe recently blogged about the rapid growth of bet-the-company litigation. Short version of that post: the number of companies involved in such cases is quadrupling. If you’re corporate counsel, you want to do your best to avoid such risky, resource-devouring litigation, and survive it when it’s inevitable.
Navigate Litigation 2.0If you work in a law firm, you’re probably feeling the pressure: corporate legal departments have been increasingly aggressive in demanding better value from their law firms for the money they’re paying.
Drive Better OutcomesCorporate law departments and insurance claims organizations continue to consolidate their outside law firms in order to control spending, streamline processes and improve performance. But why do these organizations often restrict their consolidation effort to the law firms?
Drive Better OutcomesAlthough corporate litigation spending is flat, the number of companies managing “bet-the-company” litigation has quadrupled in the last two years, posing new challenges to corporate counsel, outside counsel and litigators.
Bet-the-company litigation can be any legal action that threatens the existence of the company or major line of business, whether or not the case goes to trial.
Navigate Litigation 2.0Cybersecurity is only as strong as your weakest link. No matter how well you shore up your firm or corporate legal department, you can still become vulnerable through a vendor. That was the case for Target and Home Depot, which have suffered costly, embarrassing, and damaging breaches that jeopardized customer relationships.
Navigate Litigation 2.0I blogged the other day on why you’d want to, or need to, video-record a deposition: a witness being out of the country, outside subpoena power, sick, or otherwise unavailable. Or maybe a key witness for your side is better on camera than in print. (On the flip side, you’d want to video-record opposing witnesses who discredit themselves on camera).
Drive Better OutcomesVerdicts often come down to who tells the better story. As a litigator, you sometimes need help telling your story, so you turn to an expert witness.
When you work with experts, are you getting everything you need from them? Many lawyers aren’t.
Navigate Litigation 2.0I was a big-firm litigator for 14 years before joining Esquire as general counsel. I loved the chess match, the battle, and pinning opposing witnesses down.
But on one particular day, in a complex securities arbitration, I found myself sitting in the witness chair.
Drive Better OutcomesThe aging workforce poses risks for every business – and law firms are hardly an exception. The vast majority of managing partners are baby boomers, age 52 to 71. Are you prepared for upcoming decades? It’s not easy.
Drive Better OutcomesDid you know that nearly half of AmLaw partners are 52 or older? (This includes non-equity partners, too.) In fact, in the next five years, one in six current partners will retire and 38% will retire in the next decade.
Drive Better OutcomesComplex litigation. It’s a synonym for high stress, and it’s daunting for law firms, lawyers and the people who support them. What exactly does the term complex litigation mean? It generally signifies a case with high stakes, complicated procedures, multiple parties, multiple jurisdictions, media scrutiny, lengthy discovery and big investments in time and money. Class […]
Navigate Litigation 2.0The law is made up of words, documents and abstractions. Many of us love this stuff. And we’re good at it. But it can put the rest of the world to sleep.
Take jurors, who live normal lives steeped in TV and
Build the Bottom LineThe world has gone digital – well, most of the world has. We’ve digitized the way we work, communicate, analyze, predict, sell and buy. The practice of law has gone digital as well. There’s electronic case research, court filings, discovery, records management, video testimony and more.
So why do depositions still have to be so paper-intensive?
Build the Bottom LineWe don’t usually traffic in alphabet soup, but we know insurance defense, and we know how important each of these acronyms is to your business. They’re major costs you want to reduce. If you’re a claims exec, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re new in the industry, let me explain.
Drive Better OutcomesIt’s the same in law as it is in sports: great performances build on good practice.
For young attorneys, though, opportunities to practice depositions can be scarce, especially in real-life settings. That’s because litigation is increasingly focused on bet-the-company matters, and in those matters, senior litigators take center stage.
Drive Better OutcomesPracticing law can be stressful, and the stakes don’t get much higher than defending a high-profile class-action suit. Except when you’re defending one of the biggest companies on the planet. And you’re the lead attorney on the case. And it’s looking like you’ll have to miss the most important deposition in the case.
Drive Better OutcomesRemote depositions are an exciting, rapidly maturing method for making depositions more cost-effective and strategic. Download our eBook to learn: What are remote depositions? Why should you care about remote depositions? What are some use cases for taking remote depositions today? Eight best practices for conducting effective depositions using remote technology.
Navigate Litigation 2.0International litigation poses a host of challenges for firms and their clients, and the demand for services related to this litigation is rising.
The share of corporate counsel needing to conduct cross-border discovery rose to 41 percent in 2015-2016, up from 35 percent the year before.
Navigate Litigation 2.0As general counsel, you typically let your outside attorneys manage your cases. You can’t be everywhere at once and only have so much bandwidth to monitor each discrete activity—from the initiation of a suit through judgment—in each of the dozens or hundreds of matters on your plate.
Drive Better OutcomesMaybe you’re considering remote depositions to save yourself (and your clients) time, money, and headaches. Or you’re already doing depositions remotely and want to improve. Either way, these six factors will help you get the most success, savings, and satisfaction out of your remote depositions.
Build the Bottom LineGrandparents chat face-to-face with grandkids over iPhones. Facebook users broadcast live from concerts and games. Pundits Skype into CNN every day. Yet lawyers still fly around the country with boxes of hard-copy exhibits to conduct depositions in person. Why?
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