Who Is in Authority?
I have had a series of mediations in which I have wondered who was actually in authority? The attorney or the client? As we have all learned somewhere along the line, when it comes to attorneys representing clients….
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I Like You
Lawsuits are products. I know this sounds strange particularly to lawyers who after four years of college, three years of law school and then one or more bar examinations, do not want to consider themselves mere sales people….
Three Easy Pieces
“In ‘litigation as usual,’ settlement often comes only after adversarial posturing, the original conflict escalates, the relationships deteriorate, the process takes too long and costs too much, and nobody is really happy with the resolution
When Is A Case Ripe For Mediation?
I would say all of those cases were ripe for mediation at the time I was asked to mediate them. How can that be? Simple. In each case, the attorneys/parties had the right information, and a strong enough desire to settle, in order to make good decisions. Could those cases, which were further into the judicial process, have been resolved sooner? Possibly. But in retrospect, I don’t think they were ready until we mediated them.
George J. Siedel: Are Negotiators Subject to Liability for using their Batna Power?
Under the common law approach used in the United States, there is generally no duty to negotiate in good faith, and negotiators can exercise their BATNA power unless they decide to assume the good faith duty.
Hunt ADR recognised as Mediator Training Provider by The Civil Mediation Council
The full course will include pragmatic steps to help delegates towards being a practising mediator, with a carefully blended programme of theory and role playing to develop and apply all the relevant skills needed to be a successful mediator. CPD will be open to all with the additional development of the “CPD Club”, which provides member mediators with a variety of events tailored to achieve CMC CPD points to allow them to continue to practice under the CMC banner.
Tim Hedeen: Good and Easy Class Exercise
OFOI Tim Hedeen described the following class exercise about the nature of negotiation, which can easily be adapted in many ways. (If you want to give students even more of a run for their money, you might assign students to read the short piece on the definition of negotiation that Andrea Schneider, Noam Ebner, David Matz, and I wrote).
Objections to Joint Sessions
“Joint sessions are a waste of time,” said the judge conducting a mediation in which I was representing one of the parties. In that mediation I was asking for a joint session, but the judge still blocked us from doing one because the other side would not agree….
An example of the Power of Apology and Forgiveness
Forgiveness can help people restore themselves as morally acceptable members of society as seen by themselves and others.
The Only Impartial Direction is Up
Here’s me trying to persuade another mediator that she’s not being impartial if settlement is her goal. I’m not going to be able to persuade her, but what do you think?
