High-exposure litigation, investigations and government enforcement matters are often won or lost in the fact-finding process. The world’s leading national trial, litigation and enforcement counsel require a powerhouse discovery and advocacy team to strategize, operate and coordinate discovery management in a virtual law firm (VLF) setting.
A VLF team includes attorneys from multiple law firms working in unison, capitalizing on the particular strengths of various firms to provide an efficient and customized defense for mutual clients. While “national counsel” may take lead for the overall strategic vision of the litigation, coordinating discovery counsel in a VLF ensures a discovery strategy that aligns with the needs and obligations of the litigation and the client’s direction and takes great efforts to do so cost-effectively.
Shook has served as both national counsel and coordinating discovery counsel in multiple MDLs and mass torts, working shoulder-to-shoulder with other firms to craft the overarching litigation strategy and avoid unnecessary complications. Our mutual clients repeatedly return to our pre-trial advocacy teams not only for their incisive assessment of complex situations, but also because Shook’s teams can successfully cultivate an effective and winning partnership with other VLF participants. Acting as the glue in many VLF arrangements, Shook often sits at the nexus between national litigation counsel, trial practice and outsourced vendor support to ensure that all nodes of a complex defense team are working.
Clients recognize that the VLF approach provides their companies with a top-tier defense strategy while reducing litigation spend. Shook’s VLF team effectively integrates its pre-trial advocacy experience and skills with other firms’ skills and abilities. Clients gain the benefit and confidence that comes with receiving the leading proficiency and different perspectives of multiple firms, which provide approaches that create the best paths forward.
