I’ve Got Solo and Small Law Firms’ Back from Intake to Appeal
Six Consecutive Jury Trial Wins • Two Minnesota Supreme Court Victories • Experienced Advocate for Minnesota’s Most Vulnerable Residents
Solo and small law firms sometimes need extra juice.
A complex motion is due.
Discovery has gone off the rails.
A case has stalled out, and you’re unsure why.
Trial is fast-approaching, and you don’t know how to navigate unfamiliar terrain.
Hiring another full-time attorney may not make sense — but neither does leaving work unfinished or money on the table.
Most small firms do not need another full-time lawyer or paralegal. They need an experienced trial lawyer who can step in to provide on-demand litigation support when the workload spikes — to draft legal papers, manage discovery, handle a motion, prepare for trial, or take the lead in the courtroom as needed — and help get cases to the finish line.
Experience
I am seasoned trial, motion practice, and appellate attorney who provides law firms with on-demand litigation support from intake through appeals.
For fifteen years, I managed the busy Minneapolis-based civil rights law firm I founded, representing injured individuals, children, workers, tenants, protestors, prisoners, and consumers in state and federal courts. I handled most matters on a contingent-fee basis and, way more often than not, delivered favorable results for some of Minnesota’s most vulnerable residents.
After nearly two decades of hardball litigation against governmental entities, Fortune 500 corporations, insurance industry giants, and other powerful adversaries represented by white-shoe lawyers, chances are that if an issue arises in litigation, I’ve encountered it—or something materially similar—at least once before.
My experience includes prevailing twice before the Minnesota Supreme Court and winning my last six jury trials as first chair.
My work received national and industry recognition, including honors from Minnesota Lawyer and the Minnesota Chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association, which named me Attorney of the Year and Advocate of the Year.
Much of my experience involved cases with statutory attorney-fee shifting provisions, including employment, civil rights, privacy, consumer protection, and housing matters. Minnesota courts have issued orders finding that my reasonable hourly rate is $400.
From early case evaluation through trial, settlement, and appeals, I help solo and small law firms get the job done.
Bar Admissions
I am licensed in Minnesota and admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Services
I help firms with all areas of litigation, providing on-demand litigation support at every phase of a case, including:
Case Development
• Early case evaluation
• Legal research and litigation strategy
Pretrial Litigation
• Motion practice
• Court hearings and appearances
• Discovery requests and responses
• Efiling
• Document review
• Depositions and witness preparation
• Mediations
• Settlement opportunity (demand) letters
Trial & Appeals
• Trial preparation and support
• Trial technical support using TrialPad trial presentation software
• Jury trials, bench trials, and evidentiary hearings
• Appellate briefing, oral argument, and strategy
Jurisdiction and Venue
• I am licensed in Minnesota and available to help Twin Cities lawyers in person or remotely.
• I frequently serve as local counsel for out-of-state lawyers litigating matters in Minnesota.
• I also assist in matters nationwide, including appearing in court through pro hac vice admission.
Fees
Hourly
For law firms operating under the billable-hour framework, my current hourly rates are $111 for attorney-level work and $66 for work more clerical in nature.
However…
Project-Based Engagements
I offer donation-based and flat-fee arrangements for most engagements.
I prefer not to reduce the value I bring to an engagement to an hourly rate for spiritual reasons. I also prefer not to track hours, as doing so detracts from substantive work.
Hired Help Hotline – Donation or $99 (60-Minute Phone Call)
Sometimes lawyers need to talk it through with someone who’s been there.
Whether you’re navigating case strategy, responding to a motion, preparing a witness for trial, formatting an appellate brief, or dealing with unreasonable opposing counsel, I offer practical, on-demand guidance grounded in years of litigation experience.
If helpful, I can also point you to sample forms, relevant caselaw, and proven approaches to help you move forward with confidence.
Settlement Opportunity Letters
I ghostwrite settlement opportunity letters on a donation basis.
If my name is on the letter and the other side accepts our offer, my fee is 11% of the attorneys’ fees.
Contingent Co-counsel Partnerships
I am open to joint representation and expense-sharing arrangements commensurate with the fee split.
Settlement Opportunity (Demand) Letters
I write settlement letters that settle cases.
These letters—what civil defense lawyers and judges call “demand” letters and I call “settlement opportunity” letters—are not polite recitations of facts. They are strategic communications aimed directly at the money decisionmakers: insurance adjusters, claims committees, and insured defendants with personal exposure.
Hard-earned experience informs my approach. Earlier in my career, I won trials and obtained judgments only to watch insurance carriers and institutional defendants delay or resist payment because reserves were set too low and money decision-makers insulated themselves from risk.
So I flipped the script.
In all my cases, I wrote settlement opportunity letters lacking in Chesterfieldian politeness. I called the insurance adjusters and defense lawyers out for what they are. I exposed the frivolous defenses. I pointed out conflicts of interest. I drove wedges between the insurance adjusters, the defense lawyers, the insureds, and the clients.
The letters caused chaos. They changed the game. The other side paid judgments on old cases and settled early in new ones.
A Recent Example
Trial counsel engaged me in a medical malpractice case just weeks before jury selection. Before we finalized a formal co-counsel agreement, I reviewed the record and ghostwrote a settlement opportunity letter.
The defense accepted our offer the same day we sent the letter.
After three years of litigation, a well-timed, strategically crafted message prompted a reassessment of risk and led to a resolution our clients considered a full monetary vindication.
Inspired by legendary trial lawyers Nicholas Rowley and Courtney Rowley’s seminal treatise on settlement, Running with the Bulls, my letters apply maximum pressure on the defense’s money decision-makers, defense counsel, and all exposed parties to settle cases for amounts that represent a full monetary vindication of injured humans’ rights.
What These Letters Do
My settlement opportunity letters:
Expose liability clearly and concisely—often using the defense’s own evidence
Highlight inflection points in the litigation record (e.g., damaging depositions, failed defenses)
Create urgency with real deadlines and consequences
Drive wedges between carrier, counsel, and client when interests are not aligned
Surface bad faith exposure when reasonable settlement opportunities are ignored
Bypass gatekeeping and reach actual decision-makers
When to Bring Me In
When you suspect defense counsel is not communicating settlement offers
When you suspect bad faith dynamics may be in play
After a key deposition shifts the liability landscape
When trial is approaching, and leverage is at its apex
Engagement
I ghostwrite settlement opportunity letters on a donation basis—an approach inspired by a co-counsel who took care of me after I ghostwrote a letter that settled a medical malpractice case before we had even finalized our fee-split agreement.
Lawyers don’t always communicate settlement offers to decisionmakers. The billable hourly model works against settlement, and decent humans pay the price.
I take that personally.
I’m honored to help trial lawyers break through, reach the money, and move their clients’ cases to meaningful resolution.
If I put my name on a settlement opportunity letter and the other side accepts our offer, my fee is 11% of the attorneys’ fee.
Representative Long-Term Engagement
I helped a Minnesota law firm that handles a wide range of civil and criminal matters navigate an unforeseen calamity.
The firm was managing a busy caseload when a valued staff member unexpectedly went on extended leave, creating operational bottlenecks. As a result, the firm’s lawyers had to spend significant time on administrative and operational tasks rather than on billable legal work, substantially limiting their ability to move cases forward and earn revenue.
I stepped in as a contract lawyer to provide litigation support, assisting with:
• Drafting motion papers
• Drafting discovery requests and responses
• Conducting legal research
• Formatting documents for efiling
• General litigation support
This arrangement allowed the firm to increase litigation capacity without hiring another full-time attorney, while giving the partners the flexibility to use my services as needed.
Representative Short-Term Engagement
A Minneapolis plaintiffs’ firm retained me to take the deposition of a high-ranking employee of the corporate defendant with the summary judgment deadline fast approaching. The managing partner filed my notice of appearance, and the case settled two hours later on the eve of the scheduled deposition.
Trial Collaborations
In several matters, co-counsel have brought me into cases shortly before trial to help them prepare for and successfully try their first jury trials.
In a wage theft case, I joined the litigation team as first chair shortly before trial to help prepare the case and try it alongside co-counsel. The client was a Spanish-speaking worker, and much of the trial required coordination through interpreters. Despite these challenges and the compressed timeline leading up to trial, we successfully presented the case to the jury using TrialPad wireless trial presentation software and secured a verdict for his stolen wages. The operative statute included a fee-shifting provision, allowing recovery of attorney’s fees in addition to our client’s backpay.
In another jury trial where I didn’t get involved until the last minute, I assisted co-counsel in preparing and trying a complex employment discrimination case that also included a statutory fee-shifting provision. Serving as first chair, I worked with co-counsel to present using TrialPad and won a jury verdict that our client considered a full monetary vindication of her rights. We collected on the judgment against one of the largest corporations in America, including court-awarded attorneys’ fees.
In one case, co-counsel brought me in three weeks before trial to help him try a complex med-mal matter, and I settled it by ghostwriting a single settlement opportunity letter.
These collaborations illustrate how experienced trial-ready, on-demand litigation support can help firms successfully prepare cases for trial while mentoring newer trial lawyers through the process.
Get in Touch
If your firm could benefit from experienced, on-demand litigation support, I would be honored to connect.
My preferred method of contact is this form. Please include a brief description of your issue or project. I generally respond within 24 hours.
You may also schedule a call with me or reach me directly:
Joshua R. Williams
Freelance Lawyer
📞 612.876.7617
