The American Bar Association published a story warning us all to be careful about settling by email. It recited the case of Philadelphia Ins. Indemnity Co. v Kendall decided by the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, Case No. 2020-02752, Appeal No. 13756 [Read More]
The Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON) staff posted a blog on ethics in negotiation entitled “Ethics and Negotiation: 5 Principles of Negotiation to Boost Your Bargaining Skills in Business Situations” (April 21, 2022). Naturally, it caught my eye as I teach mediation ethics. The blog post poses 5 questions to [Read More]
Searching for some inspiration for my next blog post, I came across an article in The Conversation entitled, “How the presence of pets builds trust among people”. Noting that 90 million American households have at least one pet, the author Megan Mueller notes that “… research shows our pets can [Read More]
We are all taught that before entering into any negotiation, we should give some thought to what our best alternative is if we do not settle (that is, our Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement or BATNA.) And along these lines, we have learned that if we have a really [Read More]
Teaching the art and science of mediation brings to my consciousness a lot of pointers that otherwise reside in my subconscious. Two of them are the fine art of persuasion and the tool of persistence. The textbook used in class (Frenkel, Douglas N. and Stark, James H. The Practice of [Read More]
The Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 27, 2022, was more than just entertaining: it provided an important lesson on apologies. When Chris Rock came forward to present the award for Best Documentary Feature, he joked about seeing Jada Pinkett Smith (wife of Will Smith) in G. I Jane 2 [Read More]
Last week, I conducted a lemon law mediation which highlighted a very valuable lesson. People need to be heard, acknowledged, and told that what they are saying has merit. The plaintiff leased a luxury automobile. At one point, she brought it into the dealership after the check engine light came [Read More]
No doubt, many of us have encountered the aggressive negotiator who in a distributive bargaining zero-sum situation makes an “outrageous” settlement demand in the hopes of acquiring as much of the pie as possible. Our response is typically to be angry and to rail against both the demand and the [Read More]
