8 PerspectivesJuly 3, 2009

Advanced Decision Tree Analysis in Litigation: An Interview With Marc Victor, Part I

A .pdf version of this advanced decision tree is available here.

Decision Tree Analysis isn’t new to litigation, and it isn’t new to this site either — we discussed the basics and more a few months ago.  But when you’re ready for an advanced take on the subject, where do you turn?  All roads lead to Marc B. Victor, Esq., who pioneered the application of decision tree analysis to litigation in the 1970s.

Through his company, Litigation Risk Analysis, Inc., Marc has taught decision tree analysis in the litigation context to over 10,000 senior legal professionals, some of whom no doubt had a hand in the American College of Civil Trial Mediators awarding Marc their Education Award of Excellence in 2003.  Marc was kind enough to guide me a bit when we began our series on decision trees a few months ago, and I have wanted to flesh out some of the details with him since those initial discussions.  The Q&A below is the result of our recent follow-up interview.

How did you first put together litigation management and the decision tree concept?

It was truly fortuitous.  I was a joint JD/MBA student at Stanford in the mid-1970s and had a summer job for a company bringing an antitrust suit against IBM.  I happened to have lunch with one of our lawyers the same day the president had asked him if $10 million would be a reasonable settlement.  As our lawyer walked me through what might happen if we went to trial — “if More…

Categories: Decision Trees,Negotiation,Settlement

Add Your PerspectiveJune 26, 2009

UDR: An Introduction to Unconventional Dispute Resolution

As I have said before, if you really want to cut your litigation costs, step one is to have less litigation.  Step two, however, is just as important:  actively manage what’s left.  This post will explore a great way to do both — UDR.

We’re at a point where lawyers who are effective at getting cases settled are often thought to be afraid of trial, yet real trial lawyers often forget that their clients have more important business than litigation.  Which approach will you choose as your next case begins?  With Unconventional Dispute Resolution you can integrate both, so you don’t have to choose either — until the choice is actually yours.

What is UDR?

So what is UDR?  There’s no single element of Unconventional Dispute Resolution that’s truly new, but UDR combines 7 component parts in a way I haven’t seen before.  These elements — each of which is critical to the success of the whole — include:

1. Early Case Assessment
2. Aligned Fee Agreements More…

Categories: ADR,ECA,Miscellaneous,Settlement

1 PerspectiveJune 18, 2009

When Not To Negotiate: My Tree, My Neighbor’s House

How do you negotiate with your neighbor as your tree sits on his roof? The subject line only read “Tree Down,” but I began to wonder. The irony wasn’t lost on me as I scanned the rest of the message.  A storm, our tree, our neighbor’s house, and a scramble to respond — all as I sat in a seminar on advanced dispute resolution techniques two time zones away. I was soon reminded of a valuable lesson in negotiation that most people never get: Do you even negotiate at all?

What’s Your First Move?

I have cited all manner of negotiation textbooks on this site, from Getting to Yes to Start with No and beyond — but if your answer to the question “What’s your first move?” was anything other than “Get the tree off his house,” take a deep More…

Categories: Communication,Fundamentals,Negotiation

Add Your PerspectiveJune 10, 2009

Settlement Perspectives to Return June 18th

As you know from my most recent post, I haven’t exactly been on vacation.  That said, I finally made it to the beach this week — I’m at Pepperdine’s 22nd Annual Summer Professional Skills Program in Dispute Resolution at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in Malibu.  Let’s see what a few days with some old friends (and a few new ones) in the dispute resolution field can do.

I look forward to rejoining the conversation when I return on June 18th.  Thanks for your patience –

JD

Categories: Mediation,Miscellaneous