The Case You Should Try to Lose

Before trying to win an arbitration, try to lose it.

Give the case to someone intelligent who has no investment in the theory, the witnesses or the months spent developing it.

Then ask one question:

How would you beat us?

Counsel naturally spend enormous energy strengthening their case. The danger is that familiarity gradually turns assumptions into facts and vulnerabilities into footnotes.

An independent attack can be uncomfortable.

That is precisely the point.

The cheapest time to discover the argument that defeats your case is before the other side discovers it.