I haven't yet seen the "average" UDRP case. There have been self-filers who were excellent writers and had enough of a basic grip on what they were doing that I've looked over their responses and provided some pointers for a couple hundred dollars. There have been some very hard fought cases involving names that were critically important to clients which have cost a couple thousand dollars. The three-member panel fee itself is $1500, and going to a UDRP without a three-member panel is as wise as going to a cathouse without condoms. You might get lucky, but...
And having said that I sometimes provide help to self-filers for a couple of hundred dollars, I can predict with certainty that I will likely hear from someone who has done such a horrific job that the only thing I can recommend is a complete re-write. The best advice I can give to anyone going it alone is "fight the complaint, not the process. You will not win against the process, but you will make yourself look bad". UDRP case managers are hardworking, low-paid, and generally fair minded, and I've seen plenty of self-filers become nasty and downright abusive toward them. That is one of the surest routes to losing. The case manager is not your opponent.
There's a scene in _Monkey Business_ by the Marx Brothers where a gangster is hiring Chico and Harpo as bodyguards.
"Are you guys tough?" asks the gangster.
"Well, that depend," says Chico. "If you pay a lot, then we a lot tough. If you pay a little, then we a little tough. How much you pay?"
"I pay plenty."
"Then we plenty tough."
Something like "responding to a c&d letter" can be simple or not so simple. Sometimes the best decision is not to respond, depending on the name, the complainant, the firm that sent the letter, and my general experience in distinguishing between c&d letters of the serious variety and c&d letters of the variety in which the TM owner is merely building a file of "enforcement efforts" in order to avoid the potential vulnerability of lack of enforcement in some distant future infringement litigation. There are some mark owners that auto-generate c&d letters based on string matching from the TLD zone files, and the letter itself is a mere artifact of an incidental string match.
So, if it can be disposed of within about 15 minutes, then that's a far cry from what might be a more complex factual situation where some research into litigation history, various databases, prior correspondence, etc. might be warranted before deciding how to respond. There have even been occasions where I have run some of the correspondence past a clinical psychologist in order to get a handle on what is motivating the other side and what sort of approach may be effective. No kidding, I've had more than three UDRP disputes where the other side withdrew the complaint after they saw the response (including one - universitymall.com at NAF - where we didn't let them out).
There's no cookie cutter approach, which is why questions like "I just got a c&d letter, what should I do?" are questions that don't have a good answer for a forum with lots of readers.
There is something of a "playbook" which attorneys develop over time, and there are several attorneys in this area - Carl Oppedahl, Ari Goldberger, Steve Anderson, Steve Sturgeon, Zak Muscovitch, Brett Wakino, Joe Mize, Gerry Davis, Bret Fausset, Howard Neu, Eric Grimm (and I hate to make a list because I know I'll leave someone good out by accident and feel bad later) - who have their own styles. But it is not as if we don't know one another and share tactical insights from time to time.
I'm always willing to take a "quick look" at a situation and provide a rough estimate on what, if anything, might be appropriate. One of the time wasting difficulties is dealing with people who don't understand that the first thing I need are some basic, but specific enough, facts to determine whether there might be a conflict with another party represented by me or by my firm. But then, it seems as if there are people who feel like they will help themselves by not answering whatever questions I might have, or who don't understand that attorney client communications are privileged.
I understand that people have a lot of gripes with lawyers, but the number one gripe that lawyers have with clients happens when I hear something about my client for the first time from the other side. It is like having someone put you out to sea in a leaky boat.
The other reason why I ask a lot of questions is that I don't believe it is helpful to narrowly focus on "this name and this dispute". I try to get a larger picture of the client's situation, history, and long-term goals overall, in order to help the client avoid problems or manage conflict rationally over the long haul. If, as someone here posted, you have "c&d letters piling up", then a certain amount of triage along the lines of choosing your battles is probably the first order of business.