Plaintiff’s Approach
You’re in your own conference room with your client. You’ve reiterated your pre-trial demand, and you realize your client now thinks s/he ought to actually get that much because, after all, you are a great lawyer. You, however, realize the number is posturing, you gave it because most negotiating seminars tell you the highest demand frequently gets the biggest settlement. Have you oversold the case with the only believer being your own client? Are you now stuck with trying the case due to your client expectations?
Defendant’s Approach
You’re in your own conference room with your client. You’ve reiterated your pre-trial offer of zero, nada, zilch, and you realize your client/adjuster now thinks you’ve got this one all sewn up with the strategy no one saw coming, after all, you are a great lawyer. You also realize your non-offer is posturing, that is what this client always expects. You gave it because most negotiating seminars tell you the best initial offer is a goose egg because frequently that produces the smallest settlement. Have you undersold the case with the only believer being your own client? Are you now stuck with trying the case?
The “Win Win” Approach
Instead of just throwing out the highest number you can say without a grin, or even if you actually do have a great case with liability and objective damages, it always helps tremendously to know what judges and juries have actually awarded in cases like this one, in your county, and fairly recently. The data is out there, but it’s expensive, and time consuming to track it down. In reality though, it’s most likely where your case will end up, with a few tweaks based upon the differences between your case and the ones tried at the courthouse. We keep track of those results. We study those numbers. We can help bring your client back down to earth, so you really can be the hero, with far less risk. Unless the other side is proving to be unreasonable, save your more certain cases for the courthouse.