9 Hours CLE Credit (including 1 Hour Ethics)

Early Bird Price: $375 Work at Your Own Pace

& ™

Proudly Announce

Winning Settlements How to Get the Best Deals for Your Clients

Written and facilitated by Michael Palmer, J.D., Ph.D.

Learn how to

- Develop a winning litigation strategy - Determine the financial value of your case

- Discover what your client really wants

- Write a settlement plan that protects you against decision traps

- Navigate the ethical challenges of the settlement process

Fully online and accessible for 4 weeks.

Starting February 11, 2013

Click here for price and registration

The Goal: A resolution that satisfies your client’s interests better than a trial—or no deal.

How can you know it’s better?

This workshop helps you answer that question.

MikeTypewritten TextClick above to play video.Right click for display options.

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In this Hands-On Workshop™, participants play the roles of both plaintiff’s and defense counsel through different stages of Svensson v. Health Welfare Devices and George Templeton from inception to resolution.

We will explain the tools for interest analysis and financial valuation which we will then use together at each juncture of this hypothetical case (a composite of real cases). You will learn how to use the Win Before Trial Method to develop a litigation strategy, analyze the interests of the parties, estimate the financial value of the case from each side’s perspective, and write a settlement plan that protects against subconscious decision traps.

Prologue: Why Smart Lawyers Sometimes Do Dumb Things 1. Develop a Good Litigation Strategy 2. Discover What the Case is Worth 3. Find Out What Your Client Really Wants 4. Write a Settlement Plan

Bonus: The Ethics of Settlement Advice and Client Consent

Click here for Detailed Workshop Outline

In this workshop, you will learn how to:

• Develop a winning litigation strategy that encompasses trial and settlement.

• Use the four components of case valuation to manage complexity and to think analytically about the value of your case

• Calculate the net present financial value of any case from each side’s perspective

• Assess the interests of all stakeholders in the litigation

• Develop a settlement plan that puts you in charge of the settlement process, giving you confidence that a decision

In “Let’s Not Make a Deal,” the famous study of settlement decisions, Randy Kiser, Martin Asher, and Blakeley McShane report that 61.2 percent of plaintiffs got lower jury awards than the last offer made by the defendant and 24.3 percent of defendants ended up paying an average of $1.4 million more than the plaintiff’s last settlement demand.

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to reject or accept an offer best satisfies your client’s interests

• Grapple with the ethical challenges of providing disinterested advice to non-expert clients

Our state-of-the-art online education resources and instructional design enable you to:

• Access the course anywhere/anytime with any device that has an Internet connection.

• Complete the course in stages when you have time available

• Earn valuable CLE credit

How this Program is Delivered

Participants have access to the following online resources and materials:

• Recorded video presentations with integrated questions and answers (can be viewed anytime/anywhere on desktops and mobile devices with internet access)

• Exercises and quizzes that reinforce learning

• Live, interactive presentations in small groups for the skill-building portions of the program (recorded and available for repeat viewing).

• Case simulations and demonstrations

• Discussion forums for questions, comments, and interaction among participants with daily responses posted by the facilitator

• Membership in the WIN BEFORE TRIAL Discussion Group, which will continue after conclusion of the program.

We use several real and some imaginary cases as the material for illustrating the theories and for demonstrating the methods presented in each part of the workshop. We will make liberal use of the book and movie, A Civil Action. Participants will benefit by reading the book or watching the movie, preferably both.

The program includes recorded bonus interviews with

• Randall Kiser • Laura A. Kaster • David Ball • Bob Creo

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Workshop Outline

Prologue: Why We Sometimes Make Bad Deals and Pass Up Good Ones • What the Research Shows

• Why we fail to get optimal settlements, Part 1: An overview of subconscious biases

• Why we fail to get optimal settlements, Part 2: Insufficient analytical attention to interests and alternatives

Part I: Litigation Strategy and Expert Case Valuation

Litigation Strategy: Begin With The End In Mind • An overview of strategic thinking in litigation

• The six basic questions of litigation strategy

• Projecting the opposing party’s strategy

• Competition and cooperation in the litigation context

The Palmer Method of Case Valuation • The four components of case valuation

• The basic formula and how to apply it

• Why each side’s valuation is different

• The zone of potential agreement

How to Get Better Estimates for Each Component: An Introduction • Complexity and uncertainty: Why it’s hard to generate

reliable estimates, Part 1

• The Elephant and the Rider (the subconscious and conscious brain): Why it’s hard to generate reliable estimates, Part 2

• How to get better information about the likely values of each component

• How to mitigate overconfidence, confirming evidence, anchoring, and other biases that distort judgments about the likely values of each component

Using the Case Value Analyzer™ to Manage the Numbers

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• The Case Value Analyzer™: How it works and why it’s better than decision trees

• Using the Case Value Analyzer™ as an advocate in individual cases

• Using the Case Value Analyzer™ as a mediator

Part II: Analyzing the Parties’ Interests and Creating the Settlement Plan

Discovering the Parties’ Interests • Two ways of thinking about legal problems

• Clients think in terms of their interests

• The interest hierarchy

• Interest categories

• Respect and justice

• Discovering your client’s interests

• Assessing your client’s risk tolerance

• Don’t forget the other side’s interests and risk tolerance

The Settlement Plan • The Content of the Settlement Plan

• The Settlement Plan (Template)

• The Settlement Proposal (Template)

The Ethics of Settlement Advice and Client Consent • The lawyer’s responsibility to understand the client’s interests and to base

settlement advice on an adequate determination of likely outcomes

• Can trial counsel provide disinterested professional advice? If not, what are the ethical and practical implications?

• Can the client’s consent to a settlement be truly informed? If not, what are the ethical and practical implications?

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Call Now to Register at Early Bird Rate The early bird price (through February 4) for VBA members is $375 and $425 for nonmembers. After Feruary 4, the price for members is $400 and $450 for nonmembers.

The price includes complete 4-week access to the online materials and resources, and the discussion forum.

The program starts on February 11, 2013, and is open for 4 weeks. LEARN AT YOUR OWN PACE.

Register by January 25 to receive a free copy of Mike Palmer’s eBook, Winning Settlements: What Lawyers Must Know to Get the Best Deals for their Clients.

Upon completion of the workshop, participants receive 8 hours of general and 1 hour of ethics CLE credit.

To register, call Laura Welcome 802 223 2020 or write mike@winbeforetrial.com.

About the Author and Facilitator Jenner & Block, Chicago (1980-1987): Complex anti-trust, trademark, commercial law, contract disputes, prisoners’ civil rights, sex discrimination, death penalty appeals

Palmer Legal Services, Middlebury, Vermont (1987-2006): debtor-creditor disputes, bankruptcy (debtor and creditor), boundary disputes, family law, personal injury

Mediator: Contract disputes, real property matters, personal injury cases, bankruptcy litigation

Mike has conducted workshops on settling lawsuits since 1993. He uses the Win Before Trial case valuation method in his own mediation practice and has presented parts of it to lawyers at American Bar Association conferences, state bar association gatherings, Seton Hall Law School, Texas Wesleyan Law School, insurance companies, and mediation training. He has been a featured presenter in webinars for various organizations including the West Legal Ed Center and the CPR Institute.

Teacher:

Adjunct professor, Chicago Kent Law School, Middlebury College (jurisprudence, negotiation, rule of law, ethics)

Why so inexpensive? This is a Carbon-free CLE™. You save the cost of travel and time away from the office, and we save the cost of renting meeting rooms. We pass the savings on to you.

mailto:mike@winbeforetrial.com

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Guest lecturer, Seton Hall and Texas Wesleyan University Law School

Consultant

Negotiation workshops for Big 4 accounting firms, Fortune 500 companies, health care service providers, academic institutions, and others

Major study on professional judgment for KPMG

International economic development projects in Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia

Author:

Winning Settlements: What Courtroom Lawyers Must Know and Do to Get Good the Best Deals for Their Clients

It’s Not Your Money: Professional Responsibility for Corporate Managers

Improving Professional Judgment in the Auditing Profession

Complying with the Ethics Mandates of the Federal Acquisition Regulation

Which is Better: The Deal of the Ordeal? An Examination of Some Challenges of Case Valuation (Vermont Bar Journal, Fall 2010)

Overcoming Barriers to Agreement (ABA Advanced Mediation Institute, November 2006)

ADR Missionaries (ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine, Spring 2006)

Building Trust Through a Code of Conduct (Macedonian Business Lawyers Association Magazine, Spring 2006)

To Cybersettle or Not to Cybersettle (Vermont Bar Journal, January 2001)

The Magic of Mediation (Vermont Bar Journal, July 1996)

Education:

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1980

Harvard Mediation Workshop, 2001

Harvard Negotiation Workshop, 1992

Dr. Phil., Freie Universität Berlin, 1976

Coming Soon:

Stay tuned for information on WIN BEFORE TRIAL’s workshops on Advanced Case Valuation and Cutting the Deal.

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Part 2: Advanced Case Valuation – The Art & Science of Making Good Predictions in Litigation

This workshop presents a detailed process for making better predictions about the likely values of each of the four components of case valuation and demonstrates a set of tools that help lawyers and paralegals manage the process.

Part 3: Cutting the Deal: Making Money Talk in Mediation

This workshop will cover communicating with opposing counsel, making the best presentation of your case in mediation, working with the mediator to negotiate with the other side, assessing offers and fashioning counteroffers, and make the final decision: deal or ordeal.

About WIN BEFORE TRIAL:

WIN BEFORE TRIAL provides tools, resources, and advice that help lawyers and their clients develop litigation and settlement strategies to obtain the best possible results. For more information, visit our website, www.WinBeoreTrial.com, call 802 870 3450, or write mike@winbeforetrial.com.