<img height="1" width="1" alt="" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1482979731924517&amp;ev=PixelInitialized">

How Valuable is Your Time vs. Litigation Support's Time?

Alex Brown
By: Alex Brown

Litigation Graphics, Mock Trial, Litigation Consulting, Litigation Support, Trial Preparation, Pricing, Voir Dire, Practice, PowerPoint, In-House Counsel

by Alex Brown
Director, Operations
A2L Consulting

How do you determine value?
 
This weekend, while my oldest child was in Boston at a gymnastics meet, we thought this would be the perfect time to “renovate” her room back home. My youngest daughter wanted to help but also wanted to negotiate her fee to do so. I came up with many reasons for her to find value in helping: the good of the family, experience, and enjoyment, but none of these provided the proper balance of cost and value to her. Finally I told her that she will be able to destroy something that belongs to her big sister, without any concern for retaliation. This brought her on board, and in the end she not only loved it but she also had the added benefit of being able to tell her sister how much fun it was to destroy her room and how destructive the work needed to be.
 
As litigators, you have a similar job of having to persuade your client about, say, the importance of using expert witnesses or the need to bring on a litigation support team. This is always a delicate conversation because there are so many factors in play; emotions, money constraints, and inexperience, to name a few. For years, the use of expert witnesses has been an easy sell for the most part. But the importance of litigation support (i.e. theming, visual presentations, trial technology/hot seat operators, and mock trial exercises) is not universally accepted, so it can be more of an uphill struggle to convince clients of the need for these things and even harder to persuade them of the value. But why? It’s clearly not the cost, since that normally runs anywhere between .5 percent and 5 percent of the legal fees in a big case. So the sticking point is the need for these services.

Here are a few of the things we hear when discussing our services.
  • It's just PowerPoint, I can do that myself?

  • Just give me a list of universal questions I can ask the jury.

  • We'll just run a mock trial at the office.

  • I think we can bring you in after we know what we want, so it will be cheaper.
As a litigator, do you enjoy having the client sit next to you every step of the way, having the client in meetings when you discuss your next steps, and having them question you on every decision? Of course not. The client doesn’t have the experience, and these questions will drive down productivity. The same is true for litigation support. Perhaps in the back of your mind you think you can do it yourself. But the difference between doing it and doing it right is vast. I would never ask my doctor to fix my electrical problem, I would never ask my babysitter to fix the brakes on my car, and I will never ask my mother to drive at night. Likewise, I would never ask my litigator to do what A2L can do for them. A2L's team is experienced and professional. They can develop more options because they understand the case and are there to support you. They see more court time in a month than most litigators see in a several years. Why wouldn’t you want that level of experience in your corner?
 
David Beldon of iExecuVision International and Vistage once gave me the most important mantra that you as a litigator should incorporate into your life: “I will only do today, what ONLY I can do.”

Other A2L articles and resources related to the role of litigation support, getting value from litigation support and making a case for litigation support services to in-house counsel:

litigation consulting graphics jury trial technology

Leave a Comment