CLE for ACC-South Carolina Chapter was a Success

 

 

My firm is a proud sponsor of the Association of Corporate Counsel - South Carolina Chapter, and I am the firm's primary liaison for this group.  Last Friday, we conducted a three-hour continuing legal education seminar for the chapter, and I am happy to say that it went off without a hitch.

 

My partners Christian Stegmaier and Rebecca Halberg presented on ethics in mediation.  Joey McCue presented on unconscionability in contractual provisions and leveraged from his experience in the recent South Carolina Supreme Court case of Gladden v. Boykin.  Tom Bacon presented on management of workers compensation claims.  We also had Otis Rawl from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce join us.  He was kind enough to provide an overview of South Carolina's current business climate and the most recent legislative session.

The picture above is of yours truly and was taken during my presentation: "How Did You Arrive at that Number?  Objective and Quantitative Methods for Case Management and Evaluation."  As I told our group, I had an experience in my first or second year of practice where a client asked me how I arrived at a certain settlement figure for a case.  When my answer failed to provide any real process, I could tell that my client was "less than impressed."  In other words, it was not apparent that I was adding any real "value" to the case.

Since that time, I have taken an interest in how to evaluate a case and how to use a process to arrive at exposure, settlement value, etc.  I finally had an opportunity to put it together in this presentation, and I enjoyed sharing it with our ACC attendees.  Recently, I heard a speaker say, "All trial is theater."  I think there is a lot of truth to that statement, so I arranged the presentation so as to approach case evaluation from the standpoint of a broadway play: the stars of the show, supporting case, directors, stage, etc.  The picture above profiles two very different plays: "Phantom of the Opera" (considered by many to be the standard of excellence in terms of theater) and "Moose Murders" (widely considered to be the standard of awfulness, as it was shut down after one performance).  As I told the crowd, is your case a "Phantom of the Opera," or is it a "Moose Murders"?  We then went into the variables that can assist with this determination.  It was a fun presentation to put together, and I may convert it to an article in the future.

Thanks to all of my colleagues and Otis Rawl for their diligence in putting together this CLE!