Thomas Hugh Percival

Thomas Percival’s mediation practice evolved out of proactive litigation management: a proactive settlement-oriented approach to litigating files on behalf of insurer and self-insured clients willing to defend claims differently than the usual protracted and expensive manner of proceeding through all traditional litigious steps – discoveries, mediation and pretrial – and only attempting settlement after all those steps have been exhausted, usually years after the litigation was commenced, and after exorbitant legal fees have been incurred on top of a higher eventual claims payout as a result of the claim being built up over time.

After gathering as much pertinent information and documentation at the outset to assess the value of the claim, Mr. Percival applied extensive knowledge, experience and street smarts acquired over the last 30 years of his legal practice to strategies focused on negotiating settlement faster and economically, invariably before the delay and expense associated with discoveries, through emphasis on informal pre-discovery settlement conferences. This front-heavy and proactive approach consistently resulted in early settlement, usually 6-9 months into a case, and before discoveries, 85% of the time. In addition to the obvious advantages of this approach to defendants' insurers, it likewise benefitted injured parties, who enjoyed early closure without the risk and uncertainty as to how their case might progress over time. The adage about a bird in hand being better than 3 in the bush became a mantra of sorts.

The focus of this proactive litigation management model on settling files sooner than later was the impetus behind Mr. Percival’s expansion into the realm of mediation, allowing him to resolve files handled by other lawyers rather than ones he handled himself. In August 2019, he completed the Mediation for Professionals course offered through Kompass Professional Development at Herzing College, and he has been excelling at mediating all types of disputes, passionately tackling and solving problems ever since.