Arbitration & Mediation

More Praise for Joint Sessions in Today's Daily Journal

By Victoria Pynchon

JUNE 9, 2009  |  FORUM

When It Comes to Joint Session Negotiations, Talk Isn't Cheap

By Victoria Pynchon

Whether parties to litigation should engage in joint session bargaining at some point in the process is a hot topic at the moment because joint session practice is nearly a dead letter in one of the most active and sophisticated mediation markets: Los Angeles.

Most attorneys do not like to begin their mediated negotiations with a joint session and neither do many mediators. The reason most often given is everyone's desire to avoid a polarizing set of zealously adversarial presentations.

The joint session, however, was never meant to be a mini-trial or reiteration of the parties' adversarial positions - positions with which they've been living, and defending their clients against, for weeks, months, years, even decades. The joint session was designed to give the parties with the dispute - the clients - the opportunity to brainstorm mutually acceptable solutions to their undeniably mutual problem: the sinkhole of litigation.

The news for mediation advocates (litigators and trial attorneys) is that avoiding joint sessions may deprive the parties and counsel of the "small talk" necessary to put the parties into a collaborative, even generous mood.

Click here to read the entire article

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on June 09, 2009 (boomark / email).