Strategic Approach to Advising Business Clients

This piece deals with the strategic approach I offer business clients in giving legal advice.

Frequently I am consulted by clients who find themselves in a bit of a pickle. The client troubles can take a variety of shapes or forms. Perhaps it is a customer who refuses or ignores paying a bill. Sometimes it is a competitor who is behaving badly. Sometimes it is a partner who is making noises about claiming a bigger slice of the pie than they ought to. Sometimes it is a bureaucracy that has a left arm that doesn't know what the right arm is doing, or has agreed to do.

In most of these cases the client feels like they are getting the raw end of the stick. They feel that there is some fundamental unfairness. They believe or want to believe that the justice system will recognize that they are the good guys, and that with the help of a lawyer they can move to get a remedy that will be fair and legal.

If the situation has deteriorated, the client will often think that a lawsuit is the only sensible path. With a lawsuit, the Court will surely recognize the merits of my client's claim, and a judge will surely put the bad guy in his proper place. Often this is a misguided belief, (not always, but often), and following I will try and explain why.

Lawyers refer to lawsuits as "litigation". Indeed lawyers who are specialists in lawsuits are called 'litigators'. ( And they are a special breed, at least the good ones are). And for the record, I am not a litigator. Though for a significant part of my early career I did consider myself a litigator, and did handle a significant number of lawsuit files, with more than my share of successes. My strength in serving clients though, did not come through court cases. My best service, and the best value that I delivered to clients, was when we were able to avoid a courtroom battle and to find a resolution outside of the trial process.

to be continued.....