Insights

The cost of litigation – why institutions should take complaints seriously

Disputing parties rarely want to give ground to their opponents. Often, they fall back on litigation. This can be a costly mistake. Litigation is rarely efficient or cost effective, and it rarely works in the interests of an institution.

Here is a good example of how the costs of litigation can spiral.

For the University of Rochester, the costs started to mount up. These included:

Meanwhile, two of our plaintiffs became Time Magazine People of the Year for their part in the #MeToo movement.

It would have been much easier for the university to do the right thing from the start. It would have been much cheaper for the university to avoid litigation.