Preparing Legal Costs for Your Business

Sarah Sawyer and Russell Berger of Offit Kurman discuss how business owners can manage legal costs and risk by distinguishing predictable, routine legal work (like handbook updates, contract reviews, and key agreements) from higher-variance expenses like litigation. They explain that proactive compliance projects are easier to estimate, budget, and spread over time, while litigation is harder to predict due to factors such as discovery and limited control over how disputes are filed and resolved. They also note that shifts in laws, enforcement climates, and market forces can increase conflict and lawsuits, offering signals that owners may need to budget more for legal support in certain years. The episode emphasizes that relatively modest preventative fixes can reduce costly problems later and that litigation budgets should account for significant variability.

00:00 Legal Costs Overview

01:09 Budgeting Routine Compliance

01:55 Forecasting Litigation Spend

02:32 External Forces and Disputes

03:44 Prevention Beats Cleanup

04:20 Litigation Cost Control Tips

05:03 Wrap Up