Harris Beach Murtha Partner and Business Litigation Practice Group Co-leader Julian B. Modesti was featured in a recent Rochester Business Journal report on business litigation.

Julian discussed trends, including the rise of distressed debt in both the public and private finance sides, the increase and diversity of class actions, and the increase of commercial mediation and arbitration to resolve disputes outside of court.

“The courts are all jam-packed with cases right now, so finding a competent commercial mediator or arbitrator to perhaps get to the result faster is something that many attorneys and their clients in the commercial realm are looking for,” he said.

Julian also offered guidance on minimizing business litigation risks. He emphasized the importance of establishing your business properly from the outset, implementing appropriate policies and procedures, utilizing documents tailored to your specific business needs, joining trade associations to remain informed about industry-specific risks, and maintaining communication with legal counsel.

“I think it’s really important for everybody to [have] what I would like to call like an outside general counsel, somebody who you can call and run something by really quickly,” he said. “Because I’ve seen those five-to-10-minute phone calls save clients tens of thousands of dollars.”

Read the full report here (subscription may be required).