A blog about the work lawyers do to win commercial disputes by Will Newman
An important part of litigation is the motion for summary judgment. It is a litigant’s opportunity to avoid a trial on the grounds that the opponent has no evidence that can support her claims or defenses. But to prevail, a movant needs good evidence herself.
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 MoreLawyers are not public relations specialists, and so they may not consider how a particular argument could be viewed in the court of public opinion or how a statement could be viewed out of context.
Read MoreWhen I worked in an office, I almost always bought lunch at local lunch places. In midtown Manhattan, that would cost millions of dollars each week. Now, I make sandwiches, eat leftovers, or make other quick meals.
Read MoreThe way that customary law works, it applies to people who live in tribal communities where the value of claim is usually very small. So when you deal with commercial disputes, the amount at stake is higher and so civil law applies.
Read MoreA principal question a lawyer must ask before commencing litigation is who the correct plaintiff should be. Not every plaintiff has standing to bring a lawsuit, and making the wrong choice may not be easy to fix. In some cases this is an easy question, but in others it can be more difficult.
Read MoreUnlike the deadline to answer an initial demand or pleading, the deadline to file an appeal is often strict. A good appeal, filed late, may be dismissed for the lateness alone. As a result, litigants have to be vigilant to make sure they file their notices of appeal on time.
Read MoreJudges do not just rubber stamp requests for default judgments. They often scrutinize a plaintiff’s request for one to make sure they served papers correctly and that they submitted adequate evidence to support their case.
Read MoreKorean courts are efficient, with specialized judges who have strong expertise in commercial law, making them effective at handling complex disputes. Their focus on written submissions ensures clarity and thorough consideration of the issues.
Read MoreA party to litigation has a duty to preserve relevant evidence. They can’t just shred everything to leave their adversary without evidence at trial. But parties may disagree about the extent they need to preserve. If a judge decides one side did not preserve enough, she may decide to tell a jury to assume the missing evidence was bad for the party who did not preserve it.
Read MoreBefore delivering bad news, it helps to let a client know what to expect. This way, they will not be blindsided when an adverse event occurs. Doing this is tricky because, if a lawyer only shares worst case scenarios, the client may get too scared to proceed in situations where risks are low. They may also mistake a worst case scenario for a prediction of failure.
Read MoreWhile the discovery rules are technically uniform within a jurisdiction or, to some extent, nationwide, different judges take different approaches in enforcing them. Accordingly, a lot of discovery disputes involve lawyers huffing and puffing about how they know what the rules are and how shocked they are that the other side is brazenly violating them, only to later see the judge sees it all a different way.
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