Best Practices and Ethical Considerations When Negotiating, Drafting, and Enforcing Engagement Agreements

Steven A. Tasher | Wyatt Partners

Steven A. Tasher is one of the nation’s leading experts on legal fee matters. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Wyatt Partners, a multi-faceted legal services company. As CEO, he serves as an expert, assessing and evaluating the reasonableness of attorney’s fees/expenses and settlements in complex litigation in federal and state courts and arbitration panels throughout the United States and around the world.

He also serves as an advisor to major corporations and law firms on the development and implementation of billing guidelines, litigation budget and bill review programs. His entire legal career has focused around the handling and supervision of major litigation throughout the world. From 2017 to 2022, in addition to his duties at Wyatt Partners, Steven served as General Counsel of Case Medical, Inc., a global pharmaceutical medical instruments company. Before launching Wyatt Partners, Steven served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Wyeth and as Senior Vice President of its pharmaceutical division. His responsibilities included the supervision of five global operating departments of the company as well as supervision of the company’s major litigation.

Prior to Wyeth, he was a partner in two major international law firms, Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, an in-house counsel for the DuPont Company and Deputy Attorney General for the State of New Jersey where he handled major litigation and appellate matters and served as Chief Counsel to four cabinet officers. Steven currently sits on the boards of several corporate, philanthropic and academic institutions and is an adjunct faculty member at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His educational background includes a B.A. degree with honors from Rutgers University and a J.D. degree with honors from the George Washington University Law School.

Lindsay H. Tasher | Wyatt Partners

Lindsay H. Tasher is a Managing Director at Wyatt Partners, where she focuses her time on attorney fee expert witness work, advising major corporations and law firms on the development of litigation budget programs and billing guidelines, and assessing and evaluating the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees and settlements in complex litigation in federal and state court throughout the United States.

Prior to her work with Wyatt, Lindsay was in private practice in two law firms – one in New York and one in New Jersey. She handled all types of civil litigation, with an emphasis on aviation mass-tort law and wrongful death/personal injury claims against airlines and their insurers. She also gained experience in product liability and asbestos defense litigation, as well as various commercial claims under both New York and Jersey state and federal law, including claims for breach of contract, fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty. Lindsay received her undergraduate degree in English from Princeton University in 2000 and her law degree from The George Washington University Law School in 2005.

She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of FreeWalkers, Inc., an organization whose mission is to advance the health and well-being of the public by motivating people to participate in long distance walking events and educating them about pedestrian safety. She is also a Trustee Emeritus of Cancer Hope Network, having served for several years as Vice President, General Counsel, and co-chair of the Marketing and Golf Committees. Lindsay also served several terms on the George Washington University Law School Alumni Association Executive Board of Directors.

Samuel L. Tasher | Wyatt Partners

Samuel L. Tasher is Managing Director at Wyatt Partners. In this capacity, Samuel provides expert analysis and opinions on the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees and settlements in complex litigation and transactions around the world, and serves as an advisor to major corporations and law firms on the development and implementation of billing guidelines and other tools to manage their legal spend.

In addition to his work at Wyatt Partners, Samuel has served as a general counsel to a number of private equity companies, including Cloud X Partners, LLC and Airiam Holdings LLC, for which he has managed their legal affairs (including the supervision of its outside counsel for litigation, equity financing, corporate governance, and M&A transactions). Samuel also serves as counsel for TPE Boulder and its investment funds and sits on the Board of Advisors for TPE Boulder Fund 2024. Samuel received his A.B. (cum laude), J.D., and LL.M. from Duke University.

While at Duke, Samuel spent several years working for Duke University’s Athletics Department in various capacities, including the Compliance Office and Legal Department. Samuel spent a summer in the legal department of the New York Yankees. Samuel is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and the United State District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

I. The fundamental underpinnings of the negotiation/drafting process, Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, Rule 5, and the client’s obligation and responsibility to select the scope of work and the terms/conditions of payment | 12:00pm – 12:15pm

II. How the Rules of Professional Conduct apply to the engagement agreement process | 12:15pm – 12:30pm

III. Best practices in determining the content of your engagement agreement (assessment of the matter, evaluating risks/stakes, determination of type of counsel, experts, vendors, consultants to hire, size/location of firm, roles for multiple counsel, etc.) | 12:30pm – 12:45pm

IV. Structuring the engagement agreement (format and substance) | 12:45pm – 1:00pm

Break | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

V. Incorporating various stages of litigation/transaction into your engagement agreement | 1:10pm – 1:25pm

VI. Incorporating language to maximize information received on budgeting and anticipated costs for your litigation/transaction | 1:25pm – 1:40pm

VII. Miscellaneous clauses/provisions to enhance the value and effectiveness of your engagement agreement | 1:40pm – 1:50pm

VIII. Incorporation of and adherence to outside counsel billing guidelines | 1:50pm – 2:00pm

IX. Lessons learned and surprises encountered during the negotiation/finalization process | 2:00pm – 2:10pm