When the fun stops, stop litigating…


Did you ever put a bet on something with long odds just in case, because you had a good feeling? Were you the one person who bet on Leicester winning the Premier League in 2016, or on Argyle knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup last year? You have to speculate to accumulate, right? Do you only buy a lottery ticket when there’s a double rollover?

What’s your risk profile? All your savings in emerging markets, or just a ticket at the school tombola?

Did you ever bet all the money you have and also all the money you have tied up in your family home on a legal position that you don’t really understand but your solicitor says you have a 70% chance of winning and 70% is really really high? Did you put your solvency on the line? How about that?

When you’re litigating, you’re gambling, on a high roller, thousands of pounds at a time

You can have the best case in the world (a staggering 70%), have all your ducks in a row, witnesses all lined up, none of them on surprise holidays, funding covered, the works, and then you hand the thing to a Judge and trust them to do the right thing to make you whole again

You forget the 70% because that’s a ‘more likely than not’, right? Not very likely to lose, and you simply have to win, *and* get your costs back

And then the Judge does whatever they want. Seeing things from both sides and hearing all the evidence, it turns out something was missing, something that looked like an admission in a text message was misinterpreted, your star witness couldn’t help but start arguing in cross examination and denying something right in front of them that must be true

And the Judge sees things in a different way to the way you needed them to. You get a fudge, with findings of fact that you can’t appeal. They’re wrong but what can you do? 70% meant there was an appreciable risk of losing, after all

When you’re stuck in litigation, it’s hard to let go

But if you’re not careful, it can be the same as staying on the fruit machines until your pockets are empty. At some point, you need to think about the sense of walking away, when you’ve achieved enough leverage to start talking solutions instead of attrition

Nobody looks up to the guys who stay in William Hill all Saturday on a list of solid tips and walks out with nothing; nobody calls them brave or principled

You can decide how far you want to go before leaving the bookies, walking away from the amusement machines

You’ve got to look at the odds but remember they aren’t really magical figures - anything can happen and it probably will

Over 20 years of litigation, I’ve seen how this goes, again and again. You never expect the outcome to be what you want. Some hand of fate will knock you out of your lane

If I might be able to help bring any sense to a dispute that's got out of hand and just won't stop running, DM me for a safe harbour

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