Hoferer Provides Checklist for Assessing Financial Liability in Lawsuits

Photograph: Paul Hoferer.Paul Hoferer, '75, provided guidance about "How to Assess a Lawsuit" during a Transactional Lunch on October 6, 2015. Hoferer shared insights from his perspective as an in-house counsel. He walked the students through a checklist that he devised to help assess a company's potential financial liability in a lawsuit. Hoferer worked through potential damages and how to balance the various factors that might affect the value of a settlement offer. The lunch was sponsored by the Business and Transactional Law Center.

Hoferer spent 42 years with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF) as vice president and general counsel before retiring in 2008. While at BNSF he was responsible for nearly 3,000 lawsuits handled by over 100 law firms throughout the United States and Canada. Subsequently, Hoferer was of-counsel with Lathrop and Gage, LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, for several years. He is a member of the Washburn University Board of Regents.