I have talked about this before.  Reasonable settlement offers lead to reasonable, or halfway reasonable responses.  When you are in the midst of a lawsuit, both sides have their "dander up."  It is hard to be reasonable.  But, it is just when it is hardest that it is most critical to appear reasonable.  Pursuing an employment lawsuit is very personal, but one also has to approach it like a business.  Because, if you lose, the perpetrator is doubly rewarded.  

This becomes critical when you want the other side to make a settlement offer.  You want them to make an offer, because you want a choice.  You want to choose between settling a case or going to trial.  Trials are always risky, no matter how good your case is.  So, before you go into trial, you want a choice.  Otherwise, you risk the worst scenario: the perpetrator of your discrimination is rewarded once when they discriminate and again when you go to trial and lose…..