In addition to hiring a lawyer experienced in the courtroom (see
previous post), there are other reasons a contingent fee lawyer can help assure a successful
outcome of your Colorado business litigation.
Reason #3: You need a lawyer with special skills. The special skills of an injury lawyer will increase the likelihood of
recovery of large sums of money for his/her corporate client:
The injury lawyer is trained to “humanize” or “personalize”
his injured client. These same skills are transferrable to the “injured”
corporation. Each has suffered a wrong at the hand of the defendant and
each must be given full compensation. A jury is more likely to do so if
the corporation has been “personalized”.
The injury lawyer is trained to simplify the case for ordinary jurors.
He/she develops “themes” to make the case understandable.
Some themes I have used over the years in commercial cases include telling
the jury a contract is kind of like a “legal handshake”. Handshakes
should be honored even where sophisticated corporate representatives of
the defendant think they have found “loopholes”. The jurors
know they deal with their neighbors fairly and do not look for loopholes.
They honor their word.
The injury lawyer has conducted hundreds of focus groups without the help
of a trial consultant. This represents a tremendous savings in litigation
expenses. More importantly, it assures that good trial presentations are
being developed from the very beginning.
The injury lawyer is skilled in the art of cross-examination of technical
experts. He/she has cross-examined brain surgeons, automotive design experts,
accountants and the like. Technical background is not nearly as important
as the ability to “take command” of the courtroom during cross-examination.
The injury lawyer has selected hundreds of juries. He/she knows how to
engage strangers in comfortable conversation. The injury lawyer can react
quickly to “curveball” responses by jurors and can use these
responses to the client’s advantage.
Reason #4: You need a lawyer who will maximize damages. The injury lawyer has spent a professional lifetime assuring that full
and fair damages are recovered for injured clients. The same techniques
can be effectively used for an “injured” corporation. A client
will not be satisfied to simply “win” its lawsuit if it can’t
recover what it truly lost. Techniques for maximizing damages to injured
corporations begin during jury selection and carry all the way through
to closing argument. If the trial story is dynamic, appealing and fits
the jurors’ concepts of right and wrong, they will be generous in
their award of damages to an injured corporation.
I would enjoy the opportunity to discuss with you or one of your customers
how we can work with you on select high risk / high reward business litigation.
We work on a contingent fee basis. Contingent fees are not just for injured people.
~Jim Gilbert~