Meet with your client before a mediation to prepare a case valuation analysis to determine what concessions your client should be willing to make to settle the case. Take into account the most likely result at trial, the possibility of a resolution based on a pretrial or post-trial motion, the likelihood or possibility of appeals, the costs and fees to be incurred in litigating the case to conclusion, and the best and worst alternatives to a negotiated settlement. Recognize that each side will overvalue its own case and undervalue that of its adversary. Plaintiffs need also to bear in mind that a judgment – obtained at trial at great cost – could prove to be uncollectible.
Francis Carter
