By Zachary Ulrich Imagine a town where the streets are constantly filled with police, but where there are no burglar alarms. There may be so many police that crime is low since every street corner is always being monitored, but the resources and manpower required to field such a large force is overwhelming. Now, …
Nicole was frustrated: “I know I’m behind on the rent – business is slow and I can’t afford $9,000 a month for this place! George needs to get real! He’s made a ton of money from me. He needs to stop being so greedy… I only can pay $7,000 a month… at least until business …
By Lalita B. Nordquist, SPHR, MA, MDR Behavioral Psychology is a well-known method used across the world for everything from training dogs to treating phobias. B.F. Skinner is one of the most widely recognized contributors to Behaviorism and brought us the idea of “operant conditioning”—the idea that we can condition ourselves and others through the …
By Terri Lubaroff We’ve all dealt with a “difficult personality.” This is the person we are afraid to run into on the elevator at work, the family member who never fails to offend, or the jerk at the furniture store who refuses to refund your money on a delivery that was never made. The difficult …
By Kristofer Michaud Family mediation evolved separately from civil and commercial mediation because it addressed specific needs and concerns, and faced different challenges. Unlike in civil mediation, where the subject of mediation can be any claim traditionally litigated in tort or contract, family mediation deals chiefly with dividing marital assets, determining child custody and visitation, …
By Jeffrey Krivis There are two eternal truths about litigated cases: 1) There is a tremendous likelihood the case will be settled without trial; 2) The settlement could occur any time from the moment the case is filed until the eve of trial. That vacuum of time provides many favorable and unfavorable opportunities to negotiate …
The classic definition of a mediator is one who, without decision-making authority, assists in the resolution of a dispute between two or more others, Mediation is everywhere; moms do it for their kids, kids do it for their friends, bosses do it for their workers, and so on. Have you tried to calm an argument …
Mediation falls under the heading “alternative dispute resolution” (ADR). Alternative to what? Litigation, of course. Yet the courts now frequently require ADR as a pre-trial part of the litigation process. The co-opting of ADR into litigation has changed it. For example, arbitration has become more formal, lengthier, and costlier – so much so that corporate …
By Amy L. Lieberman, Esq. C- Level and senior executive conflicts are a different animal. Significant amounts of money and even entire businesses can be at stake. Personalities can be larger than life. Conflict at this level of any company requires both a pragmatic and diplomatic approach. Individual and even corporate reputations can be ravaged, …
By Zach Ulrich Our ADR Times Contributing Editor, Zach Ulrich, previously had the opportunity to sit down with expert mediator and arbitrator Scott Van Soye (now Managing Editor of ADR Times), to discuss Mr. Van Soye’s insights into the emotions and typical negotiation dynamics of mediation, his unique perspective into employment and disability cases, and …