Questions counsel ask before they retain me.

I’ve already filed. Is it too late?

No — you’re on time for the part that matters most. Coverage spikes when you file and when you win; in the long quiet between, the defense fills the air and the plaintiff goes silent. That silence is where the settlement number gets set — and it’s exactly where I work.

Can you come in for just one window — say, verdict to judgment?

Yes. I take discrete engagements built around a single leverage point — most often the seventy-two hours around a bellwether verdict, the window that sets the MDL number. You don’t have to retain me for the whole case to own the moment that moves it.

Trial is two years out. Too early?

The opposite. Pre-filing is the strongest position I can work from — I map what the defense is building before your complaint is ever on the docket.

What does it cost?

Engagements start at $10,000 a month. Every term is negotiable and structured to the case — against the number I’m retained to move. At Hopkins, that number moved $140 million.

Do you work on contingency?

Retainer, not contingency — but structured to the case, not a rate card. There’s no long lock-in; discrete-window engagements exist for exactly that reason. How it’s built is a conversation.

How does this not risk my license or run afoul of Rule 3.6?

I work inside privilege, not around it — retained through counsel, under your direction, and I know Rule 3.6 cold. Public activity stays within the rules of professional conduct, and nothing goes public without your sign-off. I won’t trade your standing with the court for a news cycle.

Do you guarantee coverage?

No — and anyone who does is selling you clips. I’m retained to move an outcome, not to generate press.

Do you ever contact my client directly?

Only through you, and under your direction. The strategy is yours; I execute it.

Who do I work with? Who answers the phone?

You work with me. Karen. The number rings to me — and the person who texts back is the one who built the system and spent twenty-five years across the table from the defense. When a case needs more horsepower, I scale the operation — but never with vendors. Only with people I’ve worked beside for ten years or more and trust completely — technologists, journalists, messaging strategists, researchers, the best at what they do, all under my direction. A small, elite team — senior judgment as your direct line, and a war room when the fight demands one. What you never get is an intake desk or an answering service.

Can one person match the defense’s war room?

I’m not one person doing everything — I’m the strategist running the operation. VIS scales, but never with vendors: I bring in people I’ve worked beside for a decade or more and trust completely — smart fighters who are the best at what they do — all under my direction. You get a war room that answers to your strategy, not a hired gun improvising against it. My judgment is the constant. The horsepower flexes to the fight.

When can I reach you?

A breaking story doesn’t keep office hours, so neither do I. For retained clients I’m reachable when it matters — the night a verdict drops, the morning a reporter calls for comment. Same-day response, regardless of the hour. I’m not a desk that opens at nine; I’m a person who picks up.

Are you a lawyer?

No — I’m a former Dow Jones reporter, not an attorney. The legal strategy is yours. I run the communications operation under your direction.

Do you ever work defense-side?

Never. Plaintiff-side only, twenty-five years. I don’t sit on both sides of the table.