Arbitration & Mediation

Who ME? Manipulate? Negotiating Impartiality in Mediation

Posted on June 07, 2009
I was reading a great article in the New York Times this morning about "blue sky" transparent diplomacy in light of Obama's Cairo speech and was intrigued by the phrase "constructive ambiguity" in international diplomacy. The full Obama-Cairo Speech below: The article (well worth reading in full) Experts Say Full Disclosure May Not Always Be Best Tactic in Diplomacy, while citing the importance of back channel communications, quoted "one of the nation's most experienced career diplomats and former under secretary of state"  as identifying the two "home truths" in international diplomacy: One is, don't tell lies...

Update on the $4.1 Billion Arbitration Award Confirmed as Judgment by Los Angeles Superior Court

Posted on June 07, 2009
Here's a copy of the Judgment Confirming Final Arbitration Award. Comment later.  In the meantime, Money Money Money from Cabaret.  

Barb North's Great Big Fat Reality TV Mediation Screen Test

Posted on June 06, 2009
This is a great discussion of mediation by local mediator Barb North -- another screen test for the mediation reality television show that will likely never become a reality because . .  . . I understand the producers are having trouble convening! The 411 on Barb below...

Six Ways to Insure Your Construction Mediation Fails at Construction Law Musings

Posted on June 05, 2009
How smart is Chris Hill at Construction Law Musings to have a guest blogger every Friday?  That's just the kind of collaborative problem-solving you need in your litigation counsel, particularly when you're facing multi-party construction litigation...

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Michael Webster Encourages Franchisees to Attend Harvard's Program on Negotiation

Posted on June 05, 2009
Check out franchise law blogger Michael Webster's post at Blue Mau Mau on the Harvard Program here.  Excerpt below.  How do we know that people are bad negotiators? For more than 30 years, theorists have been devising little bargaining puzzles...

My Great Big Fat Mediation Reality Show Screen Test

Posted on June 05, 2009
 I don't know why this "screen test" for a mediation reality television program appears on YouTube but I ran across it today cruising Bing and it's pretty expressive of my passion for mediation so thought I'd share it with my readers...

Negotiating the Recession with Poetry: "We Can't Be Forever Blessed"

Posted on June 04, 2009
Sometimes, all that stands between us and giving up (R.I.P. David Carradine) is the knowledge that we are not in this alone and "cannot be forever blessed."  Paul Simon's ** American Tune from 1975, another time when the American Economy was flagging...

The ABC's of Social Networking from Anna Laura Brown

Posted on June 04, 2009
ABC's of Social Networking Success View more OpenOffice presentations from Annalaura Brown.  

$4.1 Billion JAMS Arbitration Award Confirmed by Court!

Posted on June 03, 2009
All I have now is the Plaintiff's attorneys' own press release.  Excerpt below.   SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Released today by Law Offices of Scot D. Bernstein, A Professional Corporation, and Law Offices of Steve A. Buchwalter, P...

Negotiating Employment: A 12-Step Plan

Posted on June 02, 2009
This article (Relationships are Key in Job Searches) flogging this book (Whacked Again! Secrets to Getting Back in the Executive Saddle) landed in my email box from law.com this morning. I have to say that I agree with magazine mogul Tina Brown that we're in a "gig economy" not a job economy...

Negotiating Our Own Survival with One Human Story

Posted on June 02, 2009
Human Story View more OpenOffice presentations from Ali Hadi.

Mediation without the Hammer of Litigation?

Posted on June 01, 2009
Worth reading from last week's Mediator blah blah blog (the Lord Chief Justice arms himself with a hammer); just in case you missed it or didn't download the .pdf as I just did this morning.  Thanks Geoff! Let us take a blank sheet of paper and imagine that we are trying to create a system which would provide a satisfactory means of resolving civil disputes, bearing in mind, without being over dramatic, that in the end, it becomes almost inevitable that some civil disputes will end up in criminal activity...

Negotiating with Difficult People for Lawyers

Posted on June 01, 2009
Negotiating With Difficult People Part One View more OpenOffice presentations from Victoria Pynchon. Negotiating With Difficult People Part Ii View more OpenOffice presentations from Victoria Pynchon. Part III Negotiations With Difficult People View more OpenOffice presentations from Victoria Pynchon...

Negotiating with Difficult People

Posted on May 31, 2009
Negotiatingwith Difficult People View more OpenOffice presentations from Victoria Pynchon.

Restorative Justice: Mediation for Crimes

Posted on May 28, 2009
I'm asked about Restorative Justice from time to time. It's all about accountability, amends and reconciliation.  Powerful stuff.  Take a look.  Here's my own article on Restorative Justice practices, which I compare to recovery in a 12-step community...

Structured Settlement Traps for the Unwary

Posted on May 28, 2009
I would not ordinarily post a power point presentation that is someone else's marketing vehicle.  Nor would I generally post a power point that is meant solely for the benefit of one side of any dispute (here, plaintiffs' personal injury attorneys)...

The 140-Page Majority Prop 8 Opinion in a Single Paragraph

Posted on May 27, 2009
If you learn this single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person... until you consider things from his point of view. Sir? Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it...

Hey Justice Logic: Don't Go Around EMPATHIZING

Posted on May 25, 2009
Check out Balkinization's Why is Empathy Controversial?  or Liberal, an excellent analysis of empathic wisdom (and blind spots) on the Bench in the wake of a noted Republican's vow  to filibuster any Supreme Court nominee who might commit the (liberal?) sin of empathizing from the Bench...

HOW You Negotiate More Important than WHAT You Negotiate

Posted on May 25, 2009
Check out Steve Mehta's recent post at Mediation Matters -- Negotiations Today Could Haunt You Tomorrow, once again confirming that the human interaction during the negotiation is more important to long term satisfaction with the deal than the raw economic benefit achieved...

Mediation: Hazards of the Profession

Posted on May 24, 2009
Police: Woman hit, bit court mediator var isoPubDate = 'May 23, 2009Police: Woman hit, bit court mediator PORTSMOUTH — After a session of marital mediation in the district court's family division, Elizabeth Loveday threatened to kill her estranged mate, then hit and bit the mediator, police allege...

"A" is for Asshole: the Power Point

Posted on May 23, 2009
I know I've been promising the publication of this book for a long, long time.  I'm half-way through the second draft though (my publisher Janis Publications will be pleased to know) and am feeling all bright and new about it again. The brilliant and talented Laurie Barrows chose the images and did the lay-out of chapter one...

Mediators Beyond Borders Seeks Acting Executive Director

Posted on May 23, 2009
Announcement: MBB Seeks Acting Executive Director Mediators Beyond Borders (MBB) is a non-profit, humanitarian organization established to partner with communities worldwide to build their conflict resolution capacity for preventing, resolving and healing from conflict...

Communication Lessons from the Campaign Trail

Posted on May 22, 2009
Changing Minds Is Easier to Do When Yours Is Open     FORUM COLUMN Los Angeles Daily Journal May 19. 2009 By Victoria Pynchon It was hot, really hot, trudging the blacktop separating dozens of apartment buildings in Henderson, Nev., the day before the election...

Mediator Certification an Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Posted on May 22, 2009
Mediate.com Certification Program: A Grilling of Mediate.com CEO Jim Melamed by Geoff Sharp, Diane J. Levin, Victoria Pynchon May 2009   Three of the mediation world's leading bloggers, Diane Levine, Geoff Sharp and Victoria Pynchon, not necessarily great fans of mediator certification, interviewed (think 'grilled') Mediate...

Negotiation Training Now!!

Posted on May 22, 2009
Negotiation Training View more presentations from Victoria Pynchon.

Mediating Reinsurance Disputes

Posted on May 21, 2009
Excerpt from the Loree Reinsurance and Arbitration Law Forum blog: In our case, two of the three retroceded claims made up most of the $5MM. In the original joint cession, the Retrocessionaire had alleged improper, accommodation underwriting of serious medical issues...

Chimp Loses Control of Van as Banks Lose Control of Foreclosure Crisis

Posted on May 21, 2009
(image from and link to last week's This American Life episode, No Map) What do these two stories -- the first hilarious; the second infuriating -- have to do with negotiation? First, listen to the introduction and first story in last week's brilliant episode of This American Life, No Map (podcast here)...

Negotiating the Recession with a Legal Mutual Aid Society

Posted on May 19, 2009
If you're worried about your law job becoming -- as they say in Britain - "redundant" or if you've already been laid off due to the recession, join Lawyer Connection which was born today as the result of a twitter conversation I had with Gwynne Monahan (who you can follow @econwriter)...

How Summer Associates Fail from David Mills' Brilliant "Courtoons"

Posted on May 19, 2009
Hat tip to Virginia Construction Lawyer Christopher Hill for introducing us to the extremely multi-talented federal appellate attorney David Mills .

Conflict is Inevitable, Combat Optional from Justin Patten at Human Law

Posted on May 19, 2009
British mediator and blogger Justin Patten (Human Law) has a terrific piece in his ezine today entitled Conflict is inevitable, combat is optional – how to negotiate without falling out.  Justin responds with sympathy to a recent survey calling his fellow Brits "the angriest nation in Europe," noting that the wave of redundancies sweeping across the nation is forcing a number of employers, employees and their advisors such as lawyers and trade unions into conflict situation...

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