by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - November 7, 2005 - 'The Greatest' Philosophy
Keeping in theme with my latest thread on litigation practice, I am starting to see a fundamental difference between a front-end and back-end litigator. The back-end litigator handles matters with are in court room litigation or arbitration. A front-end litigator does everything they can to keep their client out of the court room. Front-end litigators provide a wide range of legal advice to their clients all designed to keep them out of trouble. Front end litigators engage in comprehensive cost benefit analysis with the client faced with a legal dispute on whether or not it makes sense to go to court. A front-end litigator tries everything within reason to resolve the dispute without stepping into court.
My new law firm spends a tremendous amount of time doing front-end litigator tasks. I can’t tell you how much more rewarding it is to be a front end litigator. You truly get a sense that you are providing value to your client. More often than not, the client can really see tangible benefit to what you have done. And is grateful for your services. I am also noticing that the volume of my front-end work is much greater than if I focus my practice on being a back-end litigation pusher. One piece of litigation takes a huge chunk of time. Keeping people out of litigation can often be achieved within budgets of $500 to $3500 and are quick hit. Perhaps most importantly, clients start seeing you as the person they need to call first when a small problem arises if you are able to keep that small problem from becoming a large problem.
Don’t get me wrong. I love standing up in court and doing trials. I have always believed it is my special gift. There will always be cases that have to go to trial. And of course, if your client gets sued, you have extremely limited ability to get that case out of the court room. But, there is a different mindset for attorneys looking to litigate than there is for attorneys who see litigation as truly the last resort. I am quickly gravitating towards the latter approach and am finding that my clients are thrilled about it.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
