A few weeks ago, I posted a blog on the importance of the words we use during a mediation or any negotiation. For example, rather than using labels “the other side” or “Plaintiff” or “defendant”, we should use the actual names of the people involved. As chance would have it, [Read More]
My husband decided to purchase windshield wiper blades at Costco for our Audi. A few days later, when we took the Audi in for repair, we asked the repair person to put on the new blades. He advised that they were the wrong ones and would order the correct ones [Read More]
Recently, I attended the Annual Conference of the Southern California Mediation Association. One of the workshops intrigued me as it was all about the words we use. Entitled “Words Matter: What to leave at the Courthouse Steps” , the speakers Dr. Debra Dupree and Harold Coleman, Jr. Esq. discussed how [Read More]
The Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions- Instruction 5009 on Pre-deliberations- admonishes jurors who are about to retire to decide the verdict that while the judge knows that the jurors will not do so, he/she is “required to advise you that you must not base your decisions on chance, [Read More]
Typically, I post blogs about a recent mediation or about mediation theory or practice. But today I am posting about a scam. We have all heard about various scams in which the scoundrels attempt to have someone give valuable information over the telephone or perhaps hire an attorney and convince [Read More]
The other night in mediation ethics class, we discussed using deception in negotiation and more specifically why certain folks will outright misrepresent an important fact as opposed to merely puffing or embellishing a little bit. In order to use such deception, we have to tell ourselves it is okay by [Read More]
Recently, the topic of whether mediators should draft settlement agreements arose in my mediation ethics class. I suggested that if the parties have attorneys, the mediator should encourage the attorneys to draft the agreement. A student took issue stating that then the mediator loses “control”. I disagreed noting that the [Read More]
Every day we read and/or see news of how climate change has affected or is impacting our daily lives. Well- an article in Live Science suggests that heat may cause us to be more aggressive (if not sleepy!) In an article published in early September 2023 entitled “Hot Weather could [Read More]
