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Settlement Counsel
As settlement counsel, Felicia combines decades of experience as a litigator with her skills and training as a mediator to negotiate settlement terms for her client.
Felicia serves as a trusted advisor for a party-controlled private resolution through confidential negotiations. In this role, Felicia does not sign pleadings or make arguments before a court or arbitrator. Her assignment is to strategically, efficiently, and cost-effectively help her client prevent or resolve a conflict either before a lawsuit or arbitration demand is filed or after.
As a former litigator, Felicia brings extensive courtroom experience and insight to dispute prevention and resolution negotiations. And with a practice committed to private dispute resolution, Felicia does not trade hats if or when litigation ensues.
Felicia’s goal as settlement counsel is to help parties avoid and resolve disputes efficiently and cost-effectively. Accordingly, alternative fee structures, such as fixed, contingent, and hybrid fees, are favorably considered.
How it works
Before a lawsuit or arbitration demand is filed. Dispute prevention and pre-litigation negotiations are effective antidotes to conflict. Unfortunately, a lack of trust, misunderstandings, competitiveness, and even fear of hidden agendas can infiltrate human interactions and escalate unexpectedly into full-blown litigation.
Many experienced dispute resolution lawyers are practicing litigators whose role in pre-lawsuit negotiations can be misunderstood, particularly if negotiations stall, and the lawyer trades a collaborating hat for an adversarial one.
As settlement counsel, Felicia will not trade hats, providing a greater level of trust in discussions about paths to resolution.
After a lawsuit or arbitration demand is filed. If a lawsuit or arbitration demand is filed, Felicia serves as a member of the dispute resolution team, where she collaborates with trial counsel to (i) ensure a united front to the opposing party and (ii) close coordination of resolution strategies whether through settlement or trial. In this way, Felicia helps her clients and trial counsel stay undistracted and focused on success in the public courtroom, knowing that she is available to negotiate opportunities for private resolution.
As Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor once said,
“The courts of this country should not be the places where resolution of disputes begins. They should be the places where the disputes end, after alternative methods of resolving disputes have been considered and tried.”