Counting the real cost of disputes

Purchasers of legal services are becoming increasingly unprepared to invest the considerable sums of money that litigation often demands without understanding in advance what the costs will be, what their options are or without having a clear picture of what the likely returns, if any might be. Of course, the more enlightened law firms are responding to the challenge. One such tool being applied is borrowed from the fields of science, engineering and commerce - decision trees provide a balanced picture by which the risks and rewards associated with different options and their likely outcomes can be laid out, analysed and assessed. This may be familiar to businesses which use them to tender for contracts where the formal process of analysing the outcomes of the options in the decision tree clarify the degree of risk that might be taken.