A blog about the work lawyers do to win commercial disputes by Will Newman
Land matters are complex since a lot of the testimony comes from old people and some have a hard time traveling from other islands. Rules for intervention during a case are lax, so people will often show up midway through a case. Some land cases in Palau last literally decades.
Read MoreThe wheels of justice move more slowly than many people expect. Lawsuits, even ones where you are very much right and the other side are bad people, often take months or even years.
Read MoreTheoretically, China has the system of people’s jurors. In many cases, a tribunal of three members may be composed of one or two jurors. However, as of now, jurors really only sit to meet the quorum of a tribunal of three members. They will not actually decide any facts though they do have the power theoretically. Instead, the presiding judge will decide the facts.
Read MoreFew employers think they are guilty of racial or sexual discrimination when they fire someone. But even for employers that comply with the law, responding to a discrimination claim may still require depositions and legal argument. This is why employers should take proactive measures to ensure they avoid the risk of litigation and prepare themselves well if a dispute arises.
Read MoreUnder the “American Rule,” plaintiffs and defendants usually pay for their own lawyers, even after one of them prevails. This is why parties often settle cases: no one wants to spend more on legal fees than they recover or than the amount of a judgment they avoid. But in some situations, a prevailing litigant may recover their attorneys’ fees from their adversary.
Read MoreIn the body of a document request, an attorney will set forth numbered requests for documents. The number of requests may vary, but it is not uncommon for a document request to have fifty or more numbered requests. In my experience, some requests are broad and others are specific.
Read MoreIn commercial disputes, there is no prior questioning of witnesses and you must go to trial with the evidence you already have. This makes trial very difficult because some evidence cannot be obtained in advance, due to the data protection law.
Read MoreCompanies often compile spreadsheets or other documents that are helpful to better understand the facts of the case or to evaluate claims made by witnesses. I try to keep an eye out for documents like employee directories, monthly financial statements, and organization charts.
Read MoreLaw firms often use document management software to store documents. Instead of saving documents in a folder or a shared network drive, law firms often allow employees to save documents on a system in which each document gets a unique ID number. The system then allows any other user to access the document.
Read MoreTemporary Restraining Orders frequently arise in disputes arising from the use of confidential material or intellectual property. This may be because it is difficult to quantify the damage arising from improper use of confidential material and so a money judgment may not properly compensate a plaintiff.
Read MoreIn a settlement negotiation, the defendant's main objective is to get a release from the plaintiff. A defendant usually offers the plaintiff money in exchange for a promise by the plaintiff not to sue and to end any existing litigation. But the defendant usually also wants a release from the plaintiff because it legally ends the threat of any future litigation by the plaintiff on the subject of the dispute.
Read MoreIf someone finds the filings and publicizes them further, it is usually too late to do anything about it. Newspapers and other media often scour filings to look for scandalous claims to publicize. And sometimes search engines can capture them and the filings can get captured by internet searches. There is virtually nothing that can be done to stop people from talking or writing about something that is already in the press or captured by search engines.
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