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Keys To A Successful Joint Defense Group

May 31, 2019

De forced cooperation dispaate alliance bedfellows

Mounting a successful joint defense group (JDG) can be a challenge. These ad hoc groups are in effect selected by their opponents – that is, the plaintiff counsel that has decided to sue them all – while among themselves they may have a history ranging from willful indifference to bitter rivalry. Its up to the respective in-house teams to make this potentially problematic alliance a success, writes Terrence J. Dee in this Today’s General Counsel article, and he suggests some strategies for doing that. “The most successful defense groups are those in which the respective in-house counsel develop lines of communication, credibility, and trust as early in the process as possible,” he says. Once that has occurred, a number of specific issues need to be addressed, the first being the identification of someone, one individual, who has the political and diplomatic skills to take the lead. This is the best way, Dee writes, to begin to address some of the knotty issues that are intrinsic to this scenario, including the identification and resolution of potential conflicts. “Plaintiffs’ counsel,” he notes, “love when joint defendants point the finger at each other.”

 

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