Setting Sail to Define Litigation Management

CLM exists in part to bring claims and litigation professionals together to discuss shared challenges. Over the years, many of those challenges have been highlighted in studies commissioned by CLM and conducted by Suite 200 Solutions that assessed the state of relationships between insurance carriers and insurance defense law firms.  

At the 2023 and 2024 CLM Annual Conferences, Taylor Smith, president of Suite 200 Solutions, shared the results of the latest Litigation Management Study (2023) and Defense Counsel Study (2024). What became clear was the need for deeper discussions around what litigation management has come to mean for claims departments today, and what it should mean going forward. 

To tackle these crucial questions, CLM announced the formation of its Litigation Management Task Force at the 2024 CLM Annual Conference. Since then, the work of the Task Force has been based on the following guiding principles: 

•Trusted partners—Insurance carriers with a duty to defend and insurance defense law firms are trusted partners invested in each others’ success. They must align around common goals. 

•Desired outcomes with appropriate costs—Insurance carriers and insurance defense law firms must align on desired outcomes and appropriate, realistic costs in the defense of litigated matters with the costs reflecting the value defense counsel adds. 

•Combat Nuclear Verdicts and legal system abuse—Insurance carriers and insurance defense law firms have a mutual interest in combatting Nuclear Verdicts and legal system abuse. 

•Talent development and retention—Insurance carriers and insurance defense law firms have a mutual interest in the development and retention of talent in our industry. 

The Task Force is led by a Steering Committee of industry and law firm experts. This committee is, in turn, assisted by subcommittees that focus on specific areas of litigation management, such as talent recruitment and retainment, cost management strategies, counsel value optimization, and professional skills development. These subcommittees will develop actionable guidelines, principles, or strategies that address their specific areas of focus. 

More member-created content available in-person at our Annual Conference this April in Dallas

As the subcommittees kick off their meetings here in 2025, CLM Magazine will cover their work throughout the year, both in these pages and online at theclm.org/magazine. In this issue, we talk to the leaders of the Cost Management Strategies Subcommittee—Rusty Goudelock, attorney at McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC; and Dana Applegate, senior vice president, claims at Coaction Specialty Insurance—who hit the ground running in 2025 and were quick to schedule meetings and dive into their subcommittee’s key topics. 

Litigation Management 

Applegate and Goudelock have the big picture in mind as they address theirsubcommittee’s specific area of concern. Discussing the industry’s approach to litigation management in general, and what led to the current challenges, Applegate notes that carriers initially set out “to get a better handle on our spend and what is actually truly needed for claims in the litigation space.” 

Over time, plaintiffs’ attorneys’ strategies evolved, timelines shortened, and cost pressures increased, which forced carriers to dig in and ask how they can control the process, and expenses, more. “The trend is really that most of our first notices come as a first notice of suit now,” Applegate says, illustrating the pressure carriers have been under and the tighter timelines they have had to deal with.  

She notes that carriers’ and attorneys’ main focus diverged. “Lawyers want to lawyer. They don’t want to manage a desk. And carriers want to spend the least amount of money to get to the best resolution.” 

She also points out the many entrants into the bill review and legal review software space, and the resulting various models and formulas that have been developed to manage legal spend. “You have all these people making money off of litigation management,” Applegate says, “and we’re not even managing the litigation anymore. We’re just trying to manage dollars; not the activity. So, I think it’s really gone away from litigation management, and it’s turned into cost management. I think we need to figure out what really needs to be cost managed and what needs to be litigation managed.” 

Goudelock says, “From a law firm standpoint, I feel like we all should be focused on trying to appropriately manage, strategize, and work the cases through in the manner that is most cost effective for our clients. Hopefully, the law firm can do that in a manner that’s profitable for the law firm.  

“I feel like, in an effort to try and accomplish that over the years, we have added so many tools into the toolbox that we can’t close it andand carry it now. We’re juggling so many different balls on both sides that everybody’s put in place.”  

The Task Force 

How will the Litigation Management Task Force address the problems Goudelock and Applegate outlined above? Goudelock says, “The most important thing that we think will come out of this is the dialogue. I think the better we understand the challenges that [carriers and attorneys] face separately, the better we can try to work together to alleviate them, and be able to focus on what we really need to focus on.” 

Goudelock adds, “CLM’s had these discussions in its own setting for years, [but] hopefully, [the task force] creates a forum where we can get down in the weeds a lot better than we can in an hour session sitting in a room before we get up and go to the next one. In those meetings, we raise and discuss hot items, but I’m not sure how in-depth we get into them [with the time we have].” 

Cost Management 

While there are several topics the Litigation Management Task Force will tackle, Applegate and Goudelock will key in on their specific area of concern through their subcommittee: cost management strategies. To make progress in this area, remaining focused is critical.  

Says Goudelock, “The one thing we concluded in our last meeting is we broke down our area: cost management. We’re not dealing with the Nuclear Verdicts, and reptile theory, and those types of things…it’s more the nuts and bolts of litigation guidelines and hourly rates, alternative fee agreements, invoice processes, [and] bill auditing.” 

Of those topics, one has stood out from the rest. Goudelock says, “The one topic everybody universally agreed on last month for us to talk about first—and it’s a broad topic—is litigation guidelines. It was the first choice, no questions asked. So that’s what we’re going to try and tackle first. We’veprobably heard enough to know that we will spend [a full] meeting on the bill auditing process.”  

Applegate adds, “That’s a big topic, and people have tried to clarify: Are we talking handling guidelines or are we talking billing guidelines? We need to break that down a little. And I think that it goes beyond just the content of the guidelines for me: it’s also the application thereof.” 

The subcommittee has moved swiftly in 2025, standing out for how quickly it held its first meeting and scheduled additional ones. Applegate credits Goudelock, stating, “He’s the one who said, ‘Hey. Let’s get on the phone. Let’s carve out some dates. Let’s at least get us scheduled through June.’” 

Goudelock, in turn, says, “I think we’ve been a good team. [Applegate has] been the organizational mind behind so much of it.” 

Both credit the subcommittee members for attending the first meeting under short notice, and for committing to the process amid busy schedules and heavy workloads. The subcommittee will meet monthly, and is scheduled to give a progress report at April’s CLM Annual Conference. 

The discussions have already begun. What will come of them? Applegate states, “After our first couple of meetings, we’ll be more in a position for [Goudelock] and me to talk about deliverables and what is manageable as far as target delivery.” 

About the Author:

Phil Gusman is CLM’s director of content. phil.gusman@theclm.org