Use the first month of a dispute to narrow it

Clients often want a letter sent in the first week. Sometimes a letter is right. More often the first month is better spent reading. Contracts, emails, the drawings, the closing binder. The case you describe on day one is rarely the case the papers support.

We ask two questions early. What would a good result change in the client's actual affairs, in money or in the use of property. And which facts would have to be true for a court to give it. If those answers are thin, the strategy should be thin too. Discovery is a poor way to find out whether you have a claim.

Witnesses are chosen the same way. The person who feels the loss is not always the person who saw the events. We talk early to the people who were in the room, and we write down what they remember while the dates are still close.

Settlement talks then have something under them. A number offered against a record that could be tried is a different number from one offered to avoid finding out. The client should see both the path and the cost of staying on it.

This note is a general comment on civil disputes. It is not advice about a case you may be considering.