Erica Zolner Quoted in “Be Creative, Not A Cowboy: Attorneys Talk Litigation Collaboration Pitfalls”

Erica Zolner is featured in the New York Law Journal article “Be Creative, Not A Cowboy: Attorneys Talk Litigation Collaboration Pitfalls,” which covers a Legalweek 2026 panel on coordination challenges in litigation.  Erica shares her perspective on the challenges that occur when teams deviate from established plans and when communication is misaligned at the start of a matter.

Erica’s remarks from the discussion are below.

***

Erica Zolner, co-managing partner at Redgrave in Chicago, lamented how frequently coordination between counsel, vendors and stakeholders falls apart from the very beginning of a case.

“I can't tell you how many times I've been on a kickoff call where there's the inevitable cowboy who decides, ‘Well, I'm not going to follow the playbook for that because that's not what we do,’” Zolner said.  “I have a feeling that playbook exists for a reason.  Part of the kickoff is making sure everyone understands that there are rules of the road, rules for the engagement, and you have to whiteboard all of the things that are potentially going to come up because there's inevitably a surprise on every matter that anyone ever works on.”

The panel broadly echoed Erica’s concerns, emphasizing the importance of alignment and accountability across all stakeholders from day one.

Erica also spoke to the role of creativity once a matter is underway, and when it is and isn’t appropriate.

“There are certain operational components that should be nonnegotiable,” Zolner said.  “In my mind, creativity comes later when you're thinking about the specific matter and how you can bring new success.”

You can read the full article here.

The views expressed in this article are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of their law firm or any of its clients.