Nightmare file or WIP ripe for cash conversion
When I was in practice there was always at least one nightmare file in the cabinet. More often it was on my desk waiting patiently to be dealt with day after day. I always used to imagine my life would be better if I could just settle that case. Of course another one always came along to take it’s place. Many cases settled for £2,500 years ago, not because that was what they were worth but because that level of general damages was ring fenced and exempt from the clawback provisions of the Social Security benefit recoupment provisions. It was a way out with difficult cases.
We never had – or least never knew we had – alternative dispute resolution procedures back then. Now if you are faced with that difficult file and you’re ready to negotiate you can arrange a mediation or a JSM. Mediations help the parties concentrate on what they really want. That may not be what their lawyers have assumed it to be. I have dealt with many mediations where the settlement outcome could not have been predicted by the parties representatives – or me – because going into the mediation nobody had a clear idea of what both sides wanted. It is a dangerous to assume that a claimant just wants a fat compensation cheque and is prepared to wait as long as it takes to get it.
Many lawyers assume that offering to mediate is a sign of weakness. It is not, it is a sign that you want to negotiate settlement now. It is no more a sign of weakness than making a part 36 offer. Mediation does not make your case any stronger or any weaker. It remains the same case with the same merits and deficiencies.
So if that fat file on the end of your desk is looking at you accusingly, check you are ready to negotiate and then arrange a mediation. Not only will you clear your conscience you will also convert all that WIP into hard bankable cash. Of course another nightmare file will be along soon …
How do you deal with window ledge files?
