Arbitration & Mediation

Nationwide Foreclosure Mediation Resources

Posted on November 24, 2009
Thanks to California State Bar legislative counsel, Saul Berovich. Center for American Progress report - Mandatory Mediation in the Foreclosure Process http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/pdf/foreclosure_mediation.pdf National Consumer Law Center report - State and Local Foreclosure Mediation Programs: Can They Save Homes?  http://www...

Legal vs. Mediation Narratives and Why They Matter

Posted on November 22, 2009
I taught legal process in the context of mediating litigated cases yesterday at the American Institute of Mediation.  I volunteered my time for the singular opportunity to be a co-presenter with the brilliant Doug Noll (buy and read everything he's written; follow him on Twitter; subscribe to the RSS feed of his blog; and, listen to his podcasts and radio show) and the equally brilliant and most successful "non-lawyer" litigated case mediator in the English-speaking world, Lee Jay Berman of the American Institute of Mediation (follow him; take his Institute's courses; and, listen to whatever he has to say because your negotiation and mediation practice will improve 100% immediately)...

Letter to a New Attorney on Web 2.0

Posted on November 22, 2009
  (image from EdTechPost :  note on graph:  it doesn't have to be like this.  Twitter is a tool that can be used strategically as part of your marketing plan for a long, long time and it constantly gets better as the people who do these things build applications and as twitter adds new features; this is completely accurate about the start-up however) Dear New Web 2...

Favorite Thanksgiving Family Conflicts: the Ice Storm

Posted on November 20, 2009
I'd like to challenge all my favorite dispute resolution bloggers to find and post their favorite Thanksgiving Family Conflict Scenes in the movies.  Above - an era within the memory of some of us who were too young for the "key parties" but too old for the behavior depicted here...

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Southern California's Best Lawyers 2010 ADR Edition

Posted on November 20, 2009
  2010 Best Lawyers ADR Services, Inc. Neutrals Victoria Pynchon Ralph O. Williams, III Eleanor Oths Barr Denise R. Madigan Eugene Charles Moscovitch Click on logo for entire issue, including JAMS and other Best Lawyer Neutrals.    Click on the image above for the National Annual Best Lawyers ADR Guide which includes not only colleagues at ADR Services but also throughout the Southern California ADR community including: Deborah Rothman Jeff Kichaven Jay McCauley Les J...

How Not to Kill Your Relatives This Thanksgiving

Posted on November 15, 2009
I kicked off a recent Thanksgiving holiday season by having an argument with my friend and neighbor the rocket scientist about extraordinary rendition and the effect of immigrant workers on the economy.  I knew I'd lost all sense of perspective around midnight as I continued searching for and emailing Tony articles that proved me right, while Mr...

Trial Lawyers' Dilemma Similar to Mediation Advocates' Dilemma: Making the Initial Demand

Posted on November 14, 2009
Check out Trial Lawyer's Dilemma:  How Much to Ask for at the Palm Coast Injury Law Blog this week. As lawyer Phil Chanfrau observes: Knowing how much to ask the Jury for  is a delicate, tough and lonely decision for any plaintiff's trial lawyer, no matter how skilled,  and experienced he is...

Prejean, Larry King and Hard Facts Making Bad Mediation Confidentiality Law

Posted on November 12, 2009
While reading this opinion (or simply this post) think about Carrie Prejean's accusation that Larry King's question to her -- "why did you settle" --was "completely inappropriate" because (presumably) her thought process was protected by mediation confidentiality...

Hope is a Choice: an Interview with Psychologist Anne LaBorde

Posted on November 12, 2009
I created this video years ago with my BFF and apologize for its poor visual quality (I was just learning).  But I can't duplicate this conversation about communication and peace making skills.  I'm posting it here for the first time.   

Why Do You Think They Call Them "War" Stories? A Meditation on Mediation Ethics

Posted on November 10, 2009
Thanks to google translate (daily destroying God's work on the Tower of Babel) I can bring you this mediation war story (loosely and imperfectly translated from a German mediation blog that I'm sorry I've lost the link to). Before the trial of a wrongful termination case, the parties meet to mediate...

Support the Conflict Resolution and Mediation Act of 2009

Posted on November 09, 2009
Thanks for the head's up on this new and important piece of proposed legislation to Patricia Porter, the Texas Conflict Coach in my twitter network = @txconflictcoach SEC. 3. CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND MEDIATION PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.   (a) In General- The Secretary of Education is authorized to make grants to local educational agencies to provide assistance to schools served by the agency that are most directly affected by conflict and violence...

Harvard Mediation Goes to Iraq

Posted on November 09, 2009
Community mediation in Iraq?  You betcha. Some successes are small. He described one mediation between two families: one household with young girls built a privacy wall that blocked sunlight from reaching the neighbor's house. They had argued for months, and were close to blows...

Conflict Revolution: Mediating Evil, War, Injustice and Terrorism by Dr. Kenneth Cloke

Posted on November 08, 2009
I spent my day Saturday at the annual convention of the Southern California Mediation Association (kudos to attorney-mediator Phyllis Pollack for a fabulous conference!)  Ken Cloke spoke eloquently on conflict systems and what mediators can do to "save the planet...

Impatience Key to Effective Mediation

Posted on November 05, 2009
(cartoon generously provided by the brilliant Charles Fincher at LawComix) O.K., I'm MUCH TOO CLOSE to this case but nevertheless intrigued by the following comments in the Recorder's recent article, Judge Puts on the Brakes While Heller Sides Mediate...

Mediation Advocacy: The Power of the Story

Posted on November 04, 2009
I've been accused of Kumbaya here (ask some of my litigation opponents if you want to check out the truth of that particular canard).  It's true that in addition to position-based competitive negotiation strategy and tactics in my mediation practice, I also facilitate what I believe to be the far more effective interest-based collaborative negotiation model, aimed at creating greater "deal" opportunities and avoiding mediation's bad reputation for splitting the baby in half (heard in the hallway:  "anyone can divide by two")...

It's Not You, It's Me-diation: the Dim View from Across the Pond

Posted on November 04, 2009
Thanks to Diane Levin of The Mediation Channel for passing along Six things I'd Change about Mediation from the U.K.'s Mediator Magazine. At present, if the total number of civil mediations were shared out evenly among accredited mediators, on average, mediators would manage fewer than one mediation a year...

Negotiating Gender, a History: When You Wish Upon a Star

Posted on October 29, 2009
From Letters of Note.

Sure We Can Compromise, But Can We Negotiate Justice?

Posted on September 30, 2009
The following is the conclusion of an excellent post on the recent Pfizer-Justice Department settlement noting that it met "the People's" justice interests better than a judgment could have.  The full article, Settlement and Justice for All by Robert C...

Court of Appeal Grants Rehearing in Burlage

Posted on September 30, 2009
I recently reported with surprise the Second Appellate District's Burlage opinion in which it refused to vacate the trial court's vacation of a $1.5 million arbitration award based upon the arbitrator's rejection of evidence that the damages sought were not in fact suffered by claimants...

Evaluative Neutrals and Mediator's Proposals

Posted on September 27, 2009
Let me begin with a radical proposition the expression of which my colleagues assure me will doom my mediation career.  Ready? Attorneys and their clients do not know what type of mediation is best for them any more than they know how to cure their own cancer...

The Difficulty of Changing Minds by L.A. Mediator Charles Parselle

Posted on September 25, 2009
One of my own favorite quotes about "changing the other guy's mind" is from commercial mediator Jeff Kichaven:  "piling rationales atop one another to convince a litigator he is wrong is like raising your voice to communicate with a deaf man...

The 411 on the AAA's Non-Binding ADR Solutions Program

Posted on September 23, 2009
  Yes, I am on this panel. The American Arbitration Association (AAA), the world's leading provider of conflict management and dispute resolution services, has unveiled new services for parties involved in business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and employer-employee disputes...

Restrain the pitbulls and release the attentive questioners for theirs is the Kingdom of Resolution.

Posted on September 22, 2009
Don't Let the Mediator Bully the Parties from Six Ways to Insure Your Construction Mediation Will Fail over at the Construction Law Musings Blog. A mediator who is bullying you or your client to settle simply hasn't gotten the knack of asking questions and creating opportunities...

Six Negotiation Pitfalls to Avoid from the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Posted on September 22, 2009
The advice below is part of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Knowledge Base.  I have excerpted the article.  To read the entire discussion (particularly if case study examples are helpful to you) click here. Poor planning After preparing your own agenda, outline the same for your opponents: What are their preferences, alternatives, and bottom line? Once at the bargaining table, test your hypotheses to determine what the opposition's priorities really are...

Negotiating Women at ForbesWoman

Posted on September 19, 2009
If you're a certain age, you'll remember women's magazines as mostly "How I Saved My Marriage" (The Ladies Home Journal to which PWNSC member Cathy Scott's mother was always submitting articles) or 101 Things to do with Jello (Good Housekeeping)...

Wave Good-Bye to Mediation Confidentiality in the U.K.

Posted on September 18, 2009
From the Business Conflict Blog comes bad news from the U.K., Mediator as Witness, Just When You Thought it Was Safe (excerpt below): John Richardson, that worthy and thoughtful New York mediator, has brought to our attention a decision by Hon. Mr. Justice Ramsey of the Royal Courts of Justice in England that seems to render unenforceable the commonplace contractual provisions immunizing mediators from testifying as to the conduct of the mediation...

Ten Ways to Get Sued: A Guide for Mediators by Michael Moffitt

Posted on September 18, 2009
And just in case you think my mediation advocacy malpractice series is picking on attorneys, here is ADR Professor Michael Moffitt's excellent article from the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Ten Ways to Get Sued:  A Guide for Mediators (.pdf).  Here are the ten ways...

Yet Another Path to Attorney Malpractice in Mediation Proceedings: Coerce Your Own Client

Posted on September 18, 2009
Because the vast majority of my litigation and mediation clients were and are corporate entities or highly successful entrepreneurs, executives or managers, I was and am rarely in a position to coerce a client into doing something it didn't want to do...

Another Malpractice Trap for the Unwary Mediation Advocate: Draft Your Own Confidentiality Agreement

Posted on September 17, 2009
As every mediation advocate must know by now, the California Supreme Court has locked down mediation confidences from attack at every turn.  There can be no implied waiver of Evidence Code section 1119's protections and you cannot be estopped to assert it (Simmons v...

SOMEONE thinks we're no. 1!

Posted on September 17, 2009
 I have no idea whatsoever what InvespConsulting is nor how it decides (really!) what the "ULTIMATE BLOG RANK" is.  But Settle It Now has never made the ABA Top 100 Legal Blogs despite its ABA listing as the most popular ADR Blog...

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