“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….
The current issue of New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer — really a very good publication of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section — includes a brief article by Roy Weinstein of the economic research and consulting firm Micronomics.
Confidential settlements have stirred controversy when they have been used to hide serious public health and safety violations, though people generally think that confidential settlements are appropriate. Indeed, people often tout confidentiality as one of the benefits of ADR.
Since the recent publications about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged serial sexual misconduct, there has been a wave of stories about others who have allegedly committed sexual misconduct. The comedian Louis C.K. is one of the men who has been accused. He publicly acknowledged that the accusations were true and apologized.
In most legal disputes, there is considerable uncertainty. Lawyers and parties discount their assessments of possible outcomes to reflect the risks, so MLATNAs therefore are always inferior to the BATNAs.
There has been a lot of attention to – and criticism of – willingness of people in colleges and universities to suppress speech. Some of this criticism is particularly directed at liberals. However, these problems are widespread through our society.
The James F. Henry Speaker Series at New York Law School’s ADR Skills Program will offer its third event of the year on Wednesday, November 15, 2017, when CPR President Noah Hanft joins panelists Greg Gallopoulos (GC of General Dynamics) and Prof. Joan Stearns Johnsen to discuss how vital commercial contracts are “Built to Last.”
The Union Internationale des Avocats held its 24th World Forum of Mediation Centres in Singapore on October 13-14. In addition to the usual high level of discourse and the unparalleled opportunity to meet new friends and keep the old, this particular Forum offered the additional opportunity to reassess the extraordinary richness of Singapore as a world center for international commerce and commercial dispute resolution.
I’ve been doing appellate mediation since the program began, and I’ve been genuinely surprised by the success rate. At the program’s inception, I anticipated a significantly lower success rate than I’ve had with non-appellate mediations — but it’s about 70%, which isn’t much lower than my rate for other matters.
