Settlement the Way Your Clients Want It

Settlement the Way Your Clients Want It
Sep 26, 2013
Dallas Bar Association • Bench/Bar Conference • Horseshoe Bay Marriott
Copyright © 2013 John DeGroote Services, LLC

How Do
We Get
There?


2

Today’s Roadmap

• Who Really -- Is
-- Your Client?
• What Does
This Mean to
You?
• Design Your
Next Process


3

“

John, I'm not
in the litigation
business. I'm in
the business
business.

“

- A Dallas GC


What’s Different?

• Risk Tolerance
• Incentives

• Constraints
• Audiences


5

So What Does This Mean To You?


6

…and What Should You Avoid?


7

Three Steps to Client Satisfaction

• Ask Them What
They Want

• Adapt Your
Process
• …and Manage

Expectations


8

Your Process: The Foundation

“

Don't let
your case
be something
you spend a
hundred grand
a month on until
everyone's ready
to deal with it.

“

9

Interests => Process
• Confidential
Listener
• Planned Early
Negotiation

• Settle Halfway
• Targeted
Adjournment


10

Process: Four More Examples
• High/Low
Agreement

• Non-Binding
Arbitration
• Offer of Judgment
• Settlement Counsel


11

Process: Where Are You?
If you and
the other
side value
your case
differently, at
least one of
you is wrong.
Make sure
it isn’t you.


12

Process: Your Role

Are You
Litigating
the Case,
or
Solving the
Problem?


13

Process: The Alternative

So is there
room for great
trial counsel?

The power to
negotiate is
the power to
walk away.


14

John DeGroote
President, John DeGroote Services, LLC
John DeGroote is a former global company general counsel now serving as a
mediator, arbitrator and court-appointed trustee in significant disputes. He
believes that hands-on leadership, early matter assessment, and aggressive
project management drive results.
Serves as the Liquidating Trustee to the BearingPoint, Inc. Liquidating Trust through
John DeGroote Services, LLC.
Served from 2000 through 2008 as the Chief Litigation Counsel to KPMG Consulting/BearingPoint;
eventually led a team of over 40 in-house lawyers around the globe as the Company's Chief Legal
Officer from 2008 through late 2009, when he became the Company's President.
Previously practiced with the law firms of McKool Smith, P.C. and Jackson Walker, L.L.P., with a
focus on complex technology, commercial, and intellectual property litigation matters against and
for various Fortune 500 companies.
Currently serves as settlement counsel to select clients involved in significant disputes.
Received his mediation training from Pepperdine University's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution
in 2005. Has participated in over 200 mediations in approximately 20 states as a client executive, as
outside or in-house counsel, and as a party.
Serves as a co-founder to online decision tree tool ResolutionTree.com and comments on litigation
management, settlement techniques and negotiation strategies at settlementperspectives.com.
• J.D., Duke University School of Law, 1990


• B.A., Mississippi State University, 1986

15

Contact

John DeGroote
President, John DeGroote Services, LLC
web johndegroote.com
email jd@johndegroote.com
office (214) 887-3484
presentations slideshare.net/johndegroote

address Hickory Street Annex
501 S 2nd Avenue, Suite A-700
Dallas, Texas 75226


16

Additional Resources
• The Early Case Assessment Checklist

• Settlement Counsel: 10 Free
Internet Resources
• What I Wish My Mediators Knew
(Presentation)
• Zen Unicorn: 4 Mediator Marketing
Lessons from Seth Godin
• The Decision Tree, Step by Step:
How Much Is Your Million Dollar
Case Worth?

17

Settlement the Way Your Clients Want It

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