Lawsuits are often about money. And the plaintiff often thinks that if she wins and gets all this money- she will be quite happy. And conversely, a defendant thinks that if she wins, she will save a whole lot of money which will make her happy! Well… as one might [Read More]
As of last fall 2017, I am a Lecturer in Law at the University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law teaching ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Ethics. I teach mediation ethics while my co-teacher covers arbitration ethics. With this perspective in mind, the recently filed lawsuit by Stormy Daniels [Read More]
Recently I came upon an older article written by Tammy Lenski entitled, “Face to Face negotiation better than e-mail.” (“Lenski”) While the article was originally published in December 2003, its points are probably truer today than fifteen years ago. The last decade and a half has seen an explosion in [Read More]
In the spring of 2013, the California Law Revision Commission began its study K-402- on creating an exception to mediation confidentiality for attorney malpractice and other attorney misconduct. In June 2017, it issued its Tentative Recommendation which I have extensively discussed in previous blogs. Although, the opposition to the Tentative [Read More]
Within the last week, I have read two different articles about the “truth”. The first, a blog posted on Kluwer Mediation Blog on February 8, 2018 entitled, “The Map is not the territory” by Charlie Woods highlights the notion that each of us has a different perception when looking at [Read More]
When our mother was alive, she used to tell the story that about six weeks after my eldest sister was born, my mother boarded a crowded war time train with my sister in her arms to meet my father then stationed in Nebraska in the Army. Suddenly realizing she had [Read More]
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, it is the client’s case, not the attorney’s, and so it should [Read More]
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 (like the used car sales person?) but that is what we are: [Read More]
