Shall we Dance?

This is the question I feel like asking an old adversary of mine every time we start talking about a case. Settlement is always my first course of action and my adversary always place "hard to get" in getting him to talk settlement negotiations. I know why he hates to settle cases, it is because he cannot continue to bill on cases he settles. If he talks a case to trial, he can bill for the trial preparation and his time even if the case ultimately settles as the trial begins. I call him the client filter in my office because I know every offer I make goes through his "filter" before it gets to his client and by the time his client hears the offer it has little to no resemblance to the offer that was actually made. This attorney fires up his client by initially promising things he cannot possibly deliver and thus needs to blame his "failures" on a judge to divert the client from blaming him.

Every time a settlement conference is scheduled I can always double book my day knowing this adversary will cancel at the last minute. Settlement conferences allow me to pierce the attorney filter allowing his client to hear the offers directly from me. Most times my offers are fair and reasonable and intelligent individuals rarely turn down offers that save them money.

Instead of trying to settle with this attorney from now on when I see him, I will just ask him to dance, since I know I will be preparing to try the case anyway...wasting my breath doing a verbal dance is no where near as enjoyable as twirling around the court room floor laying my case out for the judge. So from now on we start the case by preparing for the dance......