The one thing I love about being a mediator is that it constantly brings new challenges and new insights into people. A recent mediation is no exception. In that mediation, for the first time, defense counsel advised that her client wished to proceed to trial because it believed that the [Read More]
As part of a book club group, I recently read Negotiating the Impossible: How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (Without Money or Muscle) by Deepak Malhotra (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2016). The thesis of the book is simple: to resolve any conflict, one must employ Framing, Process and Empathy. [Read More]
In 2018, the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California received a Legal Market Landscape Report (commissioned by the Bar) (“Report”) to study the ever changing market for legal services. What the study found is that while the wealthy can afford legal services, the less well advantaged cannot. [Read More]
The California Supreme Court has issued an opinion holding that depending on the provisions in a settlement agreement, attorneys who approve the agreement as to form and content may also be bound by the substantive provisions of the agreement. In Monster Energy v Schechter, Case No. S251392 (July 11, 2019), [Read More]
There can be no empathy where there is no civility. I was at a conference recently during which one the presenters made this statement. It struck me as I had never thought about these concepts as being connected. But, indeed, they are. “Civility” is defined as “…the act of showing [Read More]
Every so often, I glance at the blog posts on the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School website and one caught my eye. It is entitled “Ethics in Negotiations: How to Deal with Deception at the Bargaining Table” written by the PON staff and posted on June 11, 2019. [Read More]
I have said this before and will say it again: talking to the other party does wonders. After mediating more than 2,000 cases, I am still at a loss to understand why parties in litigation are afraid to sit down with each other and discuss the issues directly. ( I [Read More]
In my early training to be a mediator, the trainer often suggested that to help the parties reach an agreement on the really big issues, start with the small ones. Discuss the easy issues first and obtain agreement on those. This will build momentum and a sense that resolution is [Read More]
