I was talking to a client one day and he mentioned that he would be unavailable for several days because he was working on an acquisition. I was happy to hear our client was growing and asked if he could tell me about the company being acquired. He mentioned the name and when he heard me gag, he asked whether I had ever heard of the company. I mentioned that I had run across them frequently in silica litigation. Reading between the lines, he heard me asking him why on earth they were thinking of buying another company involved in mass tort litigation, which was completely contrary to their risk profile.
In the end, the acquisition did not happen. The transactional lawyers had not done an exemplary job of due diligence. Even though they knew the company was involved in silica litigation, they didn’t appreciate the extent of the problem, the myriad of related issues,or the disclosure issues created. The upshot of the story is that I was added to the due diligence team.
This story happened more than a decade ago. I find myself telling it to new clients and prospects to illustrate the potentially added value we can bring to them even though my colleagues and I now are just litigators. The lessons one acquires over the course of a career are there to be shared. And even if a client hasn’t hired you to handle a specific matter, my experience is that they are always willing to hear what experiences you’ve had that might help them avoid making mistakes made by others. Good service, it seems to me, requires sharing the value of your experience when you see opportunities to help out. Even when you’re not directly asked.
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