Why the FMC Litigation Value Challenge might not have attracted more major participants

After a journalist, Amy Miller, called me to ask about Jeff Carr’s Litigation Value Challenge (See my post of May 13, 2009: process announced at SuperConference.) I wondered why the turnout was not greater among large firms. Several reasons occurred to me.

It could be that the bigger firms (a) do not feel that there is enough business to warrant taking part in such a crowded competition, (b) do not like the direction FMC is going with outside counsel so they won't endorse it by competing, (c) do not feel the particular tranche(s) of work is sufficiently interesting/exciting to strive for, (d) do not want to be in the glare of the publicity generated by the process, (e) do not want rejection touted to the world, (f) suspect that the process is pre-determined as to its outcome (See my post of March 16, 2009: rigged competitions with 6 references.), or (g) have too many internal approval processes to overcome.