LEGAL REPORT/Litigation
Know thy process
The key to providing good budgeting to clients on a litigation file is
breaking it down into distinct parts and pricing out each one.
W
hen Dean Scaletta
became director
of litigation for
Manitoba Public Insurance in
2009, he was astonished to learn the
company didn't have a retainer agreement for the lawyers it hired to defend
hundreds of auto insurance claim cases
across North America each year. Liti-
gation — often minor, but sometimes
costly and complex when fatal accidents
are at issue — is the Crown corporation's
core business. Yet until 2009 it simply
sent case files to outside counsel along
with a letter saying, "Send us your bills."
Scaletta brought down the budget
hammer, drafting a tough-minded retainer agreement that now specifies how
files will be staffed (generally one senior
lawyer, one junior, and one paralegal),
requiring pre-approval and spending
limits for any legal research, and listing all the items law firms can't charge
for. "We're not going to pay a paralegal .2-of-an hour to open a file," says
Scaletta. "We're not going to pay you an
hourly rate to prepare a budget. We're
not going to pay you to prepare an invoice. If it looks administrative then my
www.CANADIAN
L a w ye r m a g . c o m
J u ly
2013
43
Matthew Daley
By Richard Foot
