How to Reduce Litigation Costs Without Cutting Corners

Litigation almost always requires significant legal resources. Major litigation projects take hundreds–if not thousands–of work hours. There are also court fees, travel expenses, administrative costs, and other related expenses, which can add up to hefty bills.

With these costs in mind, maintaining law firm profitability often goes hand in hand with reducing litigation costs. However, how can you do this without sacrificing the quality of your legal services?

Here are several tried-and-tested strategies to save money on litigation:

1. Simplify Your Legal Team Structure

Reducing litigation costs starts with simplifying your team and playing up to each member’s strengths. These methods can help your team operate more efficiently, which, in turn, can help you reduce labor expenses:

Rely More on Senior Team Members

Senior team members stand out as significant legal assets. Their experience and diverse skills allow them to handle major components of your case with care.?

More specifically, they apply their deep knowledge of law in a way that reduces the need to redo work and saves money.

Assign Junior Team Members to Specific Tasks

Assign tasks that match the skill level of people in junior or entry-level legal positions. This may include research, document review, or compilation of discovery materials.

This strategy prevents you from paying high fees for basic duties. It also supports the growth of new team members who will later manage important litigation projects.

Maintain Lean Legal Teams

Try to curate a smaller, focused litigation team. A solid team structure, with fewer yet efficient members, leads to lower legal costs than larger teams.?

At the same time, a focus on a minimal workload allows faster and more cost-effective task management.

2. Plan Thoroughly

A solid overall litigation strategy forms the foundation for cost-effective litigation. It breaks down each stage of the process and assigns tasks with purpose. Here’s a closer look at what this involves:

Adopt a Well-Defined Litigation Plan

Having a clear game plan for your litigation can make a huge difference. Decide on your main goal right from the start—whether you’re aiming for a quick settlement or going all the way to trial.?

Stick to this goal and avoid any unnecessary legal steps that don’t help you get there. The focused approach saves both time and money by keeping you on track and avoiding detours.

Prepare a Detailed Strategy Outline

It pays to think ahead and consider what might not go as planned. Look into every corner of your case early on. Spotting potential problems before they blow up means you can handle them when they’re still small and manageable.

Outline your strategy step by step, from gathering evidence to how you’ll present your case, so you’re ready for whatever comes your way.

Set Clear Due Dates

Speed and efficiency can save you a lot in the long run. Set clear deadlines for every part of the process and make sure everyone involved knows what’s expected of them. This keeps things moving smoothly and prevents costly delays.

When everyone is clear on their roles and timelines, it cuts down on confusion and wasted effort.

3. Focus on Efficient Litigation Processes

Coordinating litigation processes with efficiency as a top priority can help reduce costs and save resources. There are several strategies that businesses can adopt to achieve this:

Batch Tasks During Active Periods

Grouping similar tasks together and tackling them in one go can smooth out your workload during busy periods. This approach, known as batching, leverages the momentum and focus you already have.

Whether it’s scheduling multiple depositions on the same day or consolidating document reviews, batching can significantly cut down on time and associated costs.

Encourage Sharing Work Product

When team members reuse research, briefs, and document templates, it eliminates the need to redo work that’s already been done.

Encouraging this kind of collaboration requires a shift in mindset and perhaps even some changes in how information is stored and accessed, but the payoff in terms of efficiency and cost savings can be substantial.

Prioritize Discovery

In litigation, discovery can be one of the most time-consuming and expensive phases. Tailoring the discovery process to the specific needs of your case helps avoid spending time and resources gathering unnecessary information.

Focus on what’s truly relevant by defining key issues and targeting discovery efforts accordingly. This targeted approach ensures that efforts and costs are invested only where they are most likely to be beneficial.

4. Make Smart Investments Upfront

Choosing the right places to put your money in can help you make sure that those investments will pay off in the long run. Here are some things you should consider:

Set Up a Solid Litigation Budget

Putting some money aside early on for a thorough litigation budget is a smart play for any legal team.?

This step gives you a clear picture of potential costs right from the start, helping you avoid any nasty surprises later on.

Do Your Due Diligence Early

Diving deep into all aspects of the case early can save you a lot of headaches and cash later.?

Catching issues at the beginning is usually cheaper and easier to deal with than trying to fix them when you’re deep into the process.

5. Leverage Legal Tech

The latest legal technology offers innovative ways to tackle daily tasks more efficiently and usually at a lower cost. Legal tech can transform how your team operates, improve productivity, and reduce overhead.

Use Legal Tech to Streamline Tasks

Integrating cutting-edge technology into your legal processes can radically improve how you handle routine tasks.?

These tech tools are designed to expedite time-consuming jobs, allowing legal departments to devote more energy to the crucial, strategic aspects of your cases.

Implement Document Automation Software

Investing in document automation software can dramatically cut down the time spent on creating and managing legal documents. Instead of starting from scratch every time, your team can use pre-designed templates and automate repetitive tasks like populating standard forms.

This kind of legal software not only speeds up document preparation but also reduces the possibility of errors, which can help make your workflow smoother and more reliable.

Reduce Litigation Costs with the Right Legal Tech Tool

The discovery process is often the most time-consuming part of litigation. That said, it’s also one of the most expensive.

Briefpoint.ai is the legal tech tool to start with if you want to save a significant amount of money on litigation.?

With Briefpoint’s generative artificial intelligence, you can cut down your discovery document prep time to minutes instead of hours–that means thousands of savings a year and more time for profitable work.

Save Thousands on Litigation with Briefpoint AI

Discovery responses cost firms $23,240, per year, per attorney. $23,240 estimate assumes an associate attorney salary of $150,000 (including benefits – or $83 an hour), 20 cases per year/per associate, 4 discovery sets per case, 30 questions per set, 3.5 hours spent responding to each set, and 1800 hours of billable hours per year.

Under these assumptions, you save $20,477 using Briefpoint, per year, per attorney.

Test Briefpoint yourself by scheduling a demo here.