Litigiousness

One way to predict how your business relationship with a new partner will fare is to ferret out how his or her last business relationship ended. The worst disputes are played out in litigation and are available on the public record—if you know where to look.

You obviously want to know if an executive has been accused of anything in court, but it's equally important to determine whether he or she has initiated litigation against others, how often, and why.

We use online databases to find an executive's past addresses, and use these to focus on particular jurisdictions. Once we have collected the lawsuits brought by an executive over time, we try to assess his or her litigation style; some people appear to resolve disputes quickly, while others seem to take a more “scorched earth” approach.