Don’t fall in love with your pre-mediation valuation of your case. Granted you want to negotiate a settlement commensurate with the fair value of your claims or defenses, but so does your adversary, who will ascribe a much different value to the case. Although counsel for each side may evaluate the case, neither of them gets to decide it. Even where your valuation process is impeccably correct, a judge, a jury, or an appellate court may determine a different value, and their opinion, not yours or your client’s, will establish the value of the case. So don’t fall in love with your pre-mediation valuation of your case, and don’t pass up a reasonable opportunity to settle.
Francis Carter
