Evaluation/Coaching

Do you need your case evaluated? Or would you like to be coached on how best to handle specific issues? Or some combination of both?

It used to be a lot easier to get trial experience.  At one point, early in Mr. Lachenmeier’s career, smaller cases in state court could be tried in District Court which was not even a court of record.  Young lawyers could then try cases there and then appeal them to Circuit Court, to try again!  Mandatory arbitrations only existed in some contracts and there was a lot more negotiation between veteran trial lawyers because within a fairly narrow range, plaintiffs and defense counsel could often agree on the value, particularly of smaller cases.  Several times in Mr. Lachenmeier’s lengthy trial career, he was able to accurately forecast down to the last nickel the jury verdict before he started trial.

Unless you are a criminal defense or prosecuting attorney, or possibly a legal aid attorney, it is very likely that even ten-year attorneys have not completed very many jury trials by themselves.  That is part of the reason that there are more mediations than there used to be and also the reason Mr. Lachenmeier thought there might be a market for younger, or just inexperienced trial attorneys, who want to be coached,  or to have what they think might be a large case evaluated for them.  Having tried more than 150 cases to verdict and having the benefit of his firm having collected personal injury verdicts for the last 20 years, Mr. Lachenmeier is available at $300.00 an hour to evaluate your case.

He will share with you what he thinks a jury would likely award, if the case is properly tried and no glaring mistakes are made.  He will assume an “average” jury panel for the jurisdiction (though jury makeup varies widely with the luck of the draw), that all negative issues have been disclosed to him, that both sides have competent attorneys and that the judge that gets assigned does not have a track record of favoring either  plaintiffs or defendants.  Further he will assume that none of the jurors has an undisclosed bias or relationship with any of the parties or their witnesses.  Even then you must understand that you will get his best estimate but that he does not guarantee results.

Related to that, keep in mind Mr. Lachenmeier’s definition of a veteran trial lawyer:  Someone who has won a case they were certain they were going to lose and has lost a case they were certain they were going to win.  

Nonetheless, if you do not have experience, Mr. Lachenmeier would be glad to help you evaluate your case.  Once you give him the general area, he will send you a questionnaire to make it more cost efficient to evaluate, along with a likely estimate of the amount of time that would be involved and you can decide then whether you wish to go forward.  He is available to talk about whether or not to file a case, how best to handle cases of all sizes, how much to sue for, and what should be in your pleadings, etc.  He has stopped taking on new cases.  He will not try this with you or for you, but will help you do what is necessary to get ready yourself.  Payment needs to be up front and is strictly on an hourly basis, not contingent on any results.