The costs of inexperience

Clarity about the end-goal

The debt recovery objective requires the creditor’s lawyer to be focused on the net outcome. That is, make decisions along the way that maximise what the creditor ultimately gets.

These decisions are made at various stages and require:

  • using the right resources, such as a high-tech document production system, and
  • making the best predictions and estimates about how the debtor will respond and their financial circumstances.

The starting point is to understand that a debtor’s interests are usually best served by saying and doing things to create a misleading impression. 

This can include being misleading about how much money they have and about how prepared they are to defend the claim. 

As well as, potentially, lying or being misleading in relation to the actual substantive defence they may put up. 

My task is to draw on many years’ experience to see these patterns of behaviour.  I can usually see through what a debtor might do and say, to help you make decisions, including:

  • whether to commence a case in the first place,
  • how to prosecute the case, and
  • how to enforce any judgment, including pursuing bankruptcy. 
Photo by milosducati/iStock / Getty Images
Photo by milosducati/iStock / Getty Images
 

The risks of inexperience

Something many debtors come to recognise is the “inexperienced junior lawyer”. 

Frequently cases settle too soon because lawyers give excessive legal costs estimates and charge excessive sums to take a matter to trial.  

For example: 

  1. At a pre-trial conference, a debtor makes a low offer.
  2. The alternative to accepting the offer is to go to trial.
  3. The lawyer says, "if you take this to trial, it will be very expensive".  
  4. The lawyer might say they would not do the trial themselves, but would hire a barrister. Usually this means some duplication of work and higher legal costs.
  5. The whole exercise can become pointless, because legal costs are expected to exceed the sum in dispute. 
  6. Therefore, you accept a low offer. 

After many years, and through my expertise, I have developed a methodology that means my clients do not suffer being boxed-in like this, and do not have to “settle for less”. 

I am confident I am 1 of the least expensive lawyers in Western Australia able to take a case all the way to trial and do the trial myself. Surprisingly few civil lawyers actually have experience doing a trial, because of the high rate of settlement and the surprisingly low number of trials per year.

Through the use of cutting-edge technology, cost reduction processes and basic common sense, the workflow of getting a case ready for trial can be a lot cheaper than it has been in the past.

Even the process of taking a witness statement – which seems to have become a labour-intensive and slow process in the legal profession – can be done quickly, to a high level of quality, by using my tried-and-tested techniques.

I encourage you to read more about our points of difference and call (08) 9328 5999 or email me on a no-obligation basis to see how I can help.