Greater use of staged litigation— for example, litigating and resolving some potentially case-dispositive issues before discovery on other more discovery-intensive issues—is a potent and effective practice for the trial courts and counsel to consider and recommended as a best practice by the Supreme Court Administrative Office.
Read MoreAs January 1, 2020, draws closer, litigators would be wise to consider how the the promulgation of Michigan Supreme Court Order 2018-19, will affect how they practice under important amendments to the Michigan Court Rules – particularly those dealing with proportionality, electronically stored information (ESI), and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
Read More Legal UpdateWith the promulgation of Michigan Supreme Court Order 2018-19, many significant and important amendments to the Michigan Court Rules will become effective January 1, 2020. In this post, we look at the rule regarding initial disclosures and how lawyers may need to consider their current litigation approaches.
Read More Legal UpdateIt was so easy when I embarked upon a litigation career in 1978. In that bygone era, many clients expected and were willing to pay for costly and aggressive litigation tactics, and it was not unusual for litigators to take two or more cases to trial each year. Litigation budgets were still in the future – a cost-benefit analysis for continued litigation paled in importance to the principle that needed to be established at a trial, ADR was virtually unknown and seen as only for the “weak of heart,” and trial courts had not yet adopted effective case management techniques, judicial “evidence-based practices” or imposed staged and proportionate discovery limitations. Fast forward 40 years, and we see a radically different landscape.
Read More ADR TechniquesOn October 31, 2018, I will be participating in a workshop to help ADR practitioners improve their skills and techniques.
The program – EFFECTIVE ADR ADVOCACY: Learn Expert Tips from Judges and Professional ADR Providers – will feature a faculty including Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget Mary McCormack; Kent County Judges Kathleen A. Feeney (Family Division), David M. Murkowski (Chief Judge, Probate Court), and Christopher P. Yates (Business Court), and three other ADR experts from Professional Resolution Experts of Michigan (PREMi).
Please consider attending this unique opportunity to hear from the Justice, the Judges and the ADR experts from PREMi. For more information and to register, click here.
Read More Education & Training