Solomonic & HFW

Selecting counsel with Solomonic insight

Selecting the most appropriate counsel is one of the most critical decisions in a dispute. The wrong decision can impact the outcome and possibly the client relationship.

In time-honoured fashion, solicitors rely on their own relationships and network to identify the right barrister for the case. However, this approach can have pitfalls:

  • Experience - the practitioner’s direct and extended network may not have relevant contacts with the appropriately experienced barrister. Crypto technology is an example, where only a small handful of members of the bar have experience in the area.

  • Availability – the first choice may not be available and whilst barristers' clerks can be very helpful in guiding lawyers to suitable alternatives, the challenge remains that these may not be the best person for the job.

  • Diversity – many corporates now insist on a more representative panel of advisors and counsel, and the old networks don’t always yield the diversity of talent that is available.

  • Record – clients increasingly look for insight on the past performance of the barrister. Business leaders in particular look to data to support or contextualise key decisions.

For Nicola Gare, Disputes Knowledge Counsel at HFW, the challenge has become a vital one; she and her colleagues frequently turn to Solomonic’s platform, which provides rich and relevant data, to guide and support them in making a decision on who to instruct for English litigation and, in certain circumstances, for arbitration too.

“Using Solomonic has helped our barrister and expert selection process and supports our recommended case strategy, whilst saving significant practitioner time.”

Nicola Gare, Global Disputes Knowledge Counsel

“As experienced practitioners we know our industry well. However, Solomonic can enhance our knowledge and provide the data which can impact on the strategic decisions made around choice of counsel and experts – for example, by providing data on which barristers are experienced and have proven success rates in specialist areas of law or industries, and their success. Not only that, we can also see their engagement with the judiciary e.g. identify the judges before whom they have appeared, and any comments those judges have made about them in their judgment. Solomonic seamlessly links through to the relevant judgments, which provides a good feel for how they performed on that matter and by extension how they are likely to perform on future cases. Using Solomonic makes this a more straightforward exercise,” explained Gare.

She added, “Using Solomonic we can also obtain intelligence on relationships between the parties and their counsel e.g. whether a specific party or firm has a particular barrister they use, and to see which sectors a barrister has focused on in the past – this also helps narrow our search for the right individual.”

Using Solomonic, not only can Gare identify barristers based on their expertise and experience, but also see who they acted for and how those trials fared, data that is increasingly being requested by clients.

“Using Solomonic has helped our barrister and expert selection process and supports our recommended case strategy, whilst saving significant practitioner time,” Gare concluded.

The Solomonic platform has data on over 4,400 barristers and 217 Chambers.

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