Philosophy

From Law Enforcement to Legal Coaching

I begin by informing you about the extent to which your legal claims can be enforced. Next steps involve examining the second and third order consequences that could result from legal action. Sometimes, winning a legal case can actually be the worst-case scenario in an ongoing conflict. It can also lose you valuable business partners.

However, since not taking action (i.e., taking on the victim role) is also a kind of escalation, we should explore sensible measures while taking legal and other issues into account.

Choosing Out-of-Court Proceedings

Despite the best efforts of judges, in 90% of cases, out-of-court proceedings can achieve markedly better results than a conventional lawsuit. This is due to the deficit orientation of the legal system: as a rule, it only evaluates past behaviour and imposes sanctions based on how bad said behaviour is judged to have been. The system assumes a clear cause-and-effect principle can be found, though that is often not the case in practice. In the end, doubts frequently persist as to whether the facts taken as a basis by the court really correspond to the actual events.

Even in cases where a legitimate need for compensation (i.e. a payment or redress of damages) is determined, the court is only capable of ordering an act of compensation (payment). However, in addition to this compensatory action, a meaningful settlement or resolution requires the acknowledgement/recognition of the harmful or inappropriate behaviour. This is why it is so important for the parties to be involved in the design of the solution, and not just as legal respondents (parties or witnesses). It makes a decisive difference.

Cooperation over Confrontation

In many situations it is clear that we can only achieve our own goals, such as the wellbeing of children or a sound basis for economic success, by cooperating with the other side. Especially in circumstances where there are many challenges because major changes must be made, inappropriately denigrating your future cooperation partner in a spirit of pure negativity makes little sense.

That’s why a clear identification of necessary changes is paired with an invitation to cooperative action from the very beginning.

In order to reach your goals, we can often bring in additional experts from other fields (i.e., child psychology, financial planning, organisational development) in the most sensible and efficient way possible.

We can also establish an appropriate setting to work out consensual solutions―whether by direct discussions, mediation or collaborative law―from the very start.

If battles won or lost eventually end in negotiation anyway, why not simply start with negotiation?