Comments on: The costs of litigation http://overlawyered.com/2007/06/the-costs-of-litigation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-costs-of-litigation Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Sun, 27 May 2012 05:00:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: TheMasonic http://overlawyered.com/2007/06/the-costs-of-litigation/comment-page-1/#comment-7844 TheMasonic Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:20:59 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5036#comment-7844 Dillon's comments remind me of the litigation going on right now in the scramble to collect from Anna Nicole's estate and her late husband, J. Howard Marshall. Larry Birkhead, in particular, is already in a dispute with his fired attorney for $600k and probably spending at least that much trying to win the pending dispute before the Ninth Circuit. Unfortunately, in the end, it's possible he could "win," only to leave Dannielynn saddled with an imaginary fortune and huge attorneys' fees. Dillon’s comments remind me of the litigation going on right now in the scramble to collect from Anna Nicole’s estate and her late husband, J. Howard Marshall. Larry Birkhead, in particular, is already in a dispute with his fired attorney for $600k and probably spending at least that much trying to win the pending dispute before the Ninth Circuit. Unfortunately, in the end, it’s possible he could “win,” only to leave Dannielynn saddled with an imaginary fortune and huge attorneys’ fees.

]]> By: Stewart Peterson http://overlawyered.com/2007/06/the-costs-of-litigation/comment-page-1/#comment-7843 Stewart Peterson Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:49:34 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5036#comment-7843 >>While Sun's strategy of keeping quiet while litigation was pending may have made sense in this particular competitor-to-competitor litigation, I think it is a very large mistake in the context of trial lawyers and activists targeting companies. Absolutely. In those cases, it's less of a dispute than a PR exercise. Oh, and a way to wear out a target company until they go bankrupt or stop doing whatever the opponents don't want them to do. This happened all the time in nuclear power plant projects in the 1970s-80s and I suspect it occurs in many other ventures as well. >>While Sun’s strategy of keeping quiet while litigation was pending may have made sense in this particular competitor-to-competitor litigation, I think it is a very large mistake in the context of trial lawyers and activists targeting companies.

Absolutely. In those cases, it’s less of a dispute than a PR exercise. Oh, and a way to wear out a target company until they go bankrupt or stop doing whatever the opponents don’t want them to do.
This happened all the time in nuclear power plant projects in the 1970s-80s and I suspect it occurs in many other ventures as well.

]]> By: Elliott Hurwitt http://overlawyered.com/2007/06/the-costs-of-litigation/comment-page-1/#comment-7842 Elliott Hurwitt Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:29:41 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5036#comment-7842 Not to mention the question of what all those billable hours are actually FOR. Nobody is comfortable about discussing this, but a lot of the costly attorney hours are for something less sublime than, shall we say the full attention of a partner. Work gets passed down to junior associates and from them to paralegals and from them to the proofreaders. And that's assuming the firm hasn't outsourced all the lower-level work, which is by no means a safe assumption. By the time you get to the guy in Mumbai who's actually fixing up the document, competent though he may well be, the cost differential is really getting up there. A million here, a million there -- pretty soon you're talking about real money! Good thing the client will never get wind of this ... Not to mention the question of what all those billable hours are actually FOR. Nobody is comfortable about discussing this, but a lot of the costly attorney hours are for something less sublime than, shall we say the full attention of a partner. Work gets passed down to junior associates and from them to paralegals and from them to the proofreaders. And that’s assuming the firm hasn’t outsourced all the lower-level work, which is by no means a safe assumption.

By the time you get to the guy in Mumbai who’s actually fixing up the document, competent though he may well be, the cost differential is really getting up there. A million here, a million there — pretty soon you’re talking about real money!

Good thing the client will never get wind of this …

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