Voices: The View from the Trenches

A lot has changed in the world of litigation since the markets tanked in September 2008. This fall we asked leading litigators to tell us how the past 12 months have treated them. Their answers varied widely, but taken as a whole, they suggested that the recession’s impact on litigation has dramatically affected how litigators work as much as the volume of work they do.

Several lawyers reported that alternative fee arrangements are becoming more common — and one crowed a bit at how his firm (Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott) has benefited from the trend. Others reported changes in litigation strategy. Sullivan & Cromwell’s Sharon Nelles told us “the scorched-earth approach” that might have worked a couple of years ago isn’t necessarily best for clients these days. Marshall Grossman of Bingham McCutchen had a different take: Nowadays, he said, clients are more reluctant to sue — but if they’re hit with a lawsuit, they’re more willing to fight it out in court instead of paying good money to settle.