In all aspects of litigation, we believe that clients should never be surprised or confused about the nature, extent or cost of the legal work done on their behalf. At the outset, we work with our client to assess the nature of the legal and business risk presented, and as soon as possible we develop a budget for the work to be done. In budgeting, we give a candid appraisal of whether we consider tasks to be worth the expense, and we will respect our client s judgment on such matters. Throughout the matter we expect to work closely with our client s in-house lawyers, if it has them, frequently consulting about the status of matters, obtaining comments on positions we propose and providing specific, detailed monthly statements of our work and the resulting cost. We strive to provide not only the best, but also the most efficient, cost-effective service possible.
Litigation is handled by specific attorneys assigned to that case.
The responsible partners will always be actively involved in and informed about the case, and available to our client for questions. The experience of McCutchen s other attorneys is sought out by the intellectual property litigation team when appropriate to avoid reinventing the wheel at our client s expense. We staff matters leanly. We do not assign large numbers of attorneys and legal assistants to a case just because additional staff may be needed in the future. We instead rely upon our ability to draw upon the firm s extraordinary depth of litigation expertise and additional resources when needed.