The cost you are not measuring
Every organization that employs, insures or invests in litigation-exposed professionals already pays for litigation stress. It shows up as lost output, defensive practice, bad witnesses, turnover and replacement cost. It just does not show up on a line that anyone owns.
9% fewer patients, 5% higher cost per patient, persisting, even when the claim is dropped.
Emergency physicians after a malpractice allegation. NBER Working Paper 28330 (Carroll, Cutler, Jena). For a system employing 500 physicians, a claim rate typical of high-risk specialties implies dozens of clinicians operating at reduced capacity at any time.
- Replacement cost. Physician turnover is widely estimated at $500,000 to more than $1 million per departure once recruitment, onboarding and lost revenue are counted. Litigation is a leading driver of early exit from clinical practice.
- Claim outcomes. Insurers that fund defendant preparation and support do so because a composed, prepared defendant produces stronger defenses and more reasonable settlements. This is the stated rationale of the programs at CRICO, MagMutual, Coverys and Curi, among others.
- Anxiety at scale. The WHO and ILO estimate twelve billion working days a year are lost to depression and anxiety at a cost of roughly one trillion dollars. A lawsuit is one of the most reliable ways to move a high performer into that number.
- Programs pay back. Johns Hopkins' peer-support program for clinicians after adverse events was estimated to cost about $656 per clinician and return roughly $22,500 in avoided turnover and lost productivity.
Programs
Every engagement is built on the Legal Trauma Recovery Method™: a somatic, twelve-week, audio-delivered program that treats litigation as the trauma of captivity and builds the capacity to hold it rather than promising to reduce it. It is delivered live online nationally by Dr. Asher Lyman, PhD, LPC, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and facilitators trained in the Method. Case facts are never discussed, nothing is recorded, individual participation is never reported, and the work is education and coaching rather than psychotherapy, so no clinical record exists and nothing is discoverable.
| Program | What is included | Investment |
|---|---|---|
| Litigation readiness training Before the claim | 90-minute live session for up to 60 people (physicians, partners, portfolio CEOs); a co-branded Legal Trauma First Aid handout for the day a claim arrives; recording license for internal use; 30-day follow-up Q&A. CME/CLE accreditation in progress. | $7,500 to $15,000 per session |
| 90-day defendant support pilot During the claim | Up to 12 named defendants: intake call, one-day Executive Retreat seat, six facilitated group circles, two private sessions each (deposition-timed), pre/post measures on sleep, attention and confidence, and a written outcomes report for the sponsor. | $35,000 to $60,000 |
| Annual program Standing capacity | Everything in the pilot on a rolling basis for up to 40 defendants a year, quarterly readiness sessions, a monthly open circle, deposition-week private sessions on demand, quarterly outcomes reporting, and co-branded materials for claims staff to hand to insureds on day one. | $120,000 to $300,000 per year, by volume |
| Facilitator training Build it in-house | Train your peer-support physicians, claims professionals or wellness staff in the Method: four-day certification, materials license, quarterly supervision. For organizations that want the program to outlive the vendor. | $40,000 to $75,000 |
| Enterprise Carriers and large systems | Annual program plus facilitator training, policyholder-wide readiness curriculum, and integration with claims workflows. Scoped by proposal. | From $300,000 per year |
Individual sued professionals referred by a sponsor can also be enrolled per person (retreat, circles and deposition sessions) at $2,500 to $4,000 each, invoiced to the sponsor.
Malpractice and professional liability insurers
The leading medical malpractice carriers now offer peer support, litigation education and coaching to sued insureds, and present it as part of the coverage. The rationale is loss control: prepared defendants perform better and stay insured. If your company does not yet have a program, a 90-day pilot gives you an outcomes report and a policyholder benefit in one quarter. If you have one, facilitator training and the readiness curriculum extend it to every insured before the claim arrives. Lawyers' professional liability carriers have the same exposure and almost no programs; the opportunity to be first is real.
Health systems and medical groups
Your sued physicians are still on the schedule. A defendant support program sits alongside your peer-support and wellbeing infrastructure, is confidential by design, and gives the chief wellness officer and the risk department something they both own. The pilot's pre/post measures and outcomes report are built for the business case to the CFO.
Law firms
A partner in a malpractice claim or a disciplinary matter is a risk to every matter they touch. Firm general counsel and professional responsibility partners increasingly treat defendant support as part of the firm's own risk management. We also train partners and associates as witnesses in their own matters, where lawyers are famously poor, and run readiness sessions for practice groups with high claim exposure.
Venture and private-equity firms
A portfolio CEO in litigation is a portfolio problem: decision quality drops, hiring stalls, the board starts managing around the founder. Funds sponsor Executive Retreat seats and private work for founders in co-founder, investor, employment and regulatory disputes, and run readiness sessions for the portfolio. It is one of the cheaper ways to protect a position.
How a pilot runs
- 30-minute scoping call. Who is sued, how many, what claims staff or wellness staff touch them today, and what outcome you need to show. You leave with a one-page proposal and a price within two business days.
- Week 1 to 2: setup. Referral pathway agreed with claims or wellness staff, co-branded day-one materials delivered, intake calls begin.
- Week 3 to 12: delivery. Retreat day, six circles, private sessions timed to depositions, pre/post measures collected.
- Week 13: outcomes report. Aggregate, anonymized: sleep, attention and confidence change, participation, and participant verbatims. No individual is identified. Decision on annual program.