Law Technology

What Cases Do You Take?

I was talking with a friend recently about case selection. He said he was taught to take the following cases:

• Limited Damages with Very Clear Liability
• Tough Liability with Significant Damages

That’s a good rule of thumb. It takes an awful lot of time and effort to gear up for trial, and you typically want significant damages to be cost effective, but if there’s very clear liability, you can do that with lesser damages. Also, if your clients has several hundred thousand in doctor’s bills, then it doesn’t hurt to look harder for liability, or fight liability issues on contested cases. But I’ll add another caveat:

• If the Client is a Bad Client, Regardless of Anything Else, It’s a Bad Case

If there’s clear liability and significant damages, but your client is a problem client or bad client, then it’s a bad case. If they’re a bad client, they will find a way to sabotage their case.

Full post as published by South Carolina Trial Law Blog on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).