Counsel coordination

Coordination works best when roles and authority are explicit. These articles consider coordinated proceedings, panel review, and referrals from the perspective of the people responsible for organizing the work. They emphasize the difference between shared preparation and shared representation, and between an invitation to review a matter and an accepted engagement. Clients can use the same material to ask who will communicate with them and who can answer a time-sensitive question. Professional rules, court orders, and the terms of representation remain controlling. Treat these guides as an aid to structured discussion, not as a replacement for those documents.