Only minutes separated Chris Hamilton from his appointed time to to make an opening statement at a binding arbitration hearing when his client reached a $1.2 million settlement with one of the two corporate defendants.

“It's a game of chess played every time,” Hamilton, a partner in Dallas' Standly Hamilton, says about such pre-hearing, time-pressured litigation strategies.

But Hamilton remains satisfied with that outcome and he suspects—although he concedes he doesn't know for sure—that the defendant that settled before the hearing might also be pleased in hindsight.