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: mediator blah...blah...

Real lawyers don't eat quiche

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So in the inevitable corridor time, well into the afternoon of a mediation this week, one of the lawyers who I had last seen when I was at my law firm in the 1990's says to me; "So Geoff, when did you give up real law?"

At this point, two answers are possible; one for a valued and hopefully future consumer of mediation services; 'ha! I haven't had to open a law book since 1998'.

The other would work if you are intent on committing professional suicide and I could have said; 'Well, you know Brian, there's a lot of paddling under the water for us mediators. I have to very quickly understand how you twist your square causation argument into the round hole of the law and test you on it. Before I can do that though, I need to actually know the law and have a good eye for legal BS so I can ask you, in the nicest possible way, to explain it to me again so others at the table just might pick up the soft spots I got, but they missed, on your first run through'.

A much more erudite discussion on this problem is to be found at Mediation in the mainstream: the problem of observability and What, exactly, does the mediator DO? and What, exactly, does the mediator do? Part Deux.

Full post as published by mediator blah...blah... on October 31, 2008 (boomark / email).