Arbitration & Mediation

e-Bleak House: Twitter "Tweets" Discoverable

Posted on December 17, 2008
pimg width="400" vspace="5" hspace="5" height="714" border="5" align="texttop" alt="" src="http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/uploads/image/Bleak_House_title_page.jpg" //p pFrom a href="http://www.lawyersusaonline.com/index.cfm/archive/view/id/432466"E-discovery implications of Twitter/a at a href="http://www...

Can You Spell Autistic Hostility? Bertuzzi/Moore Mediate

Posted on December 16, 2008
As CR Info explains People tend to break off interaction and communication with those they dislike. When this happens people become stuck in autistic hostility, that is, their hostility is perpetuated by their refusal to communicate. One-time Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore and former Vancouver Canucks winger Todd Bertuzzi met in Toronto on Monday for a court-ordered mediation hearing in an effort to prevent a lawsuit from heading to court...

Arbitration and E-Discovery: Make Up Your Own #^%@ Law!

Posted on December 16, 2008
The National Law Journal's annoying practice of making its "best" content available only with a secret decoder ring forged in the fire of subscription dollars, nevertheless did not stop me from access to an intriguing article about arbitration's "e-discovery conundrum" (here for people with the secret code)...

Can You Spell Autistic Hostility? Bertuzzi/Moore Mediate

Posted on December 16, 2008
blockquote pa href="http://www.crinfo.org/booksummary/10477/"As CR Info explains/a/p pPeople tend to break off interaction and communication with those they dislike. When this happens people become stuck in strongautistic hostility/strong, that is, their hostility is perpetuated by their refusal to communicate...

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Arbitration and E-Discovery: Make Up Your Own #^%@ Law!

Posted on December 16, 2008
pThe a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp"National Law Journal's/a annoying practice of making its quot;bestquot; content available only with a secret decoder ring forged in the fire of subscription dollars, nevertheless did not stop me from access to an intriguing article about arbitration's quot;e-discovery conundrumquot; (a href="http://www...

To Arbitrate or Not Arbitrate Securities Fraud, That is the Question

Posted on December 15, 2008
FINRA Securities Arbitration or Class Action Lawsuits? A common question asked by investment fraud victims is whether they should partake in a class action lawsuit of a securities arbitration claim. Often, investors are presented with a choice of either partaking in a class action lawsuit or FINRA arbitration action...

Negotiation Trust: It's ALWAYS an Inside Job

Posted on December 15, 2008
As I head out to mediate an alleged Ponzi scheme purportedly perpetrated by one member of the Adath Israel Shul/* against another, I ponder its similarity to many other allegedly fraudulent financial schemes I've personally mediated.  Then I pick up the morning New York Times where, three thousand miles away, "at Green's Pharmacy, a popular lunch counter in downtown Palm Beach a man who said two of his relatives were founding members of the [Palm Beach] country club wondered aloud whether the club’s unusually exclusive nature, especially among the wealthiest investors, is what enabled [Bernard L...

Local Mediators Kichaven, Rothman, McCauley to Join Forces to Form High-End ADR Boutique

Posted on December 13, 2008
By Greg Katz Daily Journal Staff Writer LOS ANGELES - The crowded Los Angeles mediation market is about to get a new competitor. Professional Mediation will open its doors in January. It is the brainchild of Cary Sarnoff, president of Sarnoff Information Technologies, whose main enterprise is Sarnoff Court Reporters...

It's About Justice . . . and the Common Good

Posted on December 13, 2008
We were talking about fairness over pizza with our neighbor last night.  Tony was pretty teed off at the unions, something I've heard a lot of from Mr. Thrifty over the past couple of weeks.  True to litigator form, however, Mr. T came to the defense of the "working man" when hearing his own opinions read back to him over cheese and pepperoni...

Face-to-Face Conversations Powerful Resolution Tool

Posted on December 13, 2008
From this coming Monday's Forum Column in the Los Angeles Daily Journal (byline V. Pynchon): Psychologists tell us that we are not only "meaning making" beings, but that we are all born conspiracy theorists. Viewing a field of nonsensical, unrelated data, we naturally begin to "connect the dots" - to organize the information into a coherent, and often compelling, narrative...

The Mediator's Proposal: An Idea Whose Times Has Passed?

Posted on December 13, 2008
Are mediators being hook-winked by clients who create artificial impasses for the purpose of procuring a favorable mediator's proposal?  Does the mediator's recommendation carry so much weight that the parties are subject to a manipulated mediator's proffer?  Does the mediator become just a tool of a party bent on flim-flam?   Or is all distributive bargaining flim-flam? Check out John DeGroote's in-house point of view over at Settlement Perspectives and leave a comment...

Negotiating with Rod Blagojevich

Posted on December 11, 2008
   It's time to play Name That Goon! Rod Blagojevich vs. Tony Soprano. Hands on buzzers: One's a trash-talking thug trying to stay one step ahead of the law. The other was played by James Gandolfini...

No Review of Discretionary Stay by Arbitrator

Posted on December 10, 2008
Thanks LACBA for the daily case reports! Trial court lacked authority to review discretionary, prehearing order by arbitrator, who imposed stay on arbitration of dispute concerning uninsured motorist policy until plaintiff--who was driving on work-related business in company car provided by employer when rear ended--pursued workers’ compensation benefits in light of Insurance Code Sec...

Saving Your Home from Foreclosure by Mediation

Posted on December 09, 2008
More than 360 Connecticut homeowners have avoided foreclosure in the past five months thanks to a new mediation program established by the state, but some think it’s still being underutilized. The program, which was part of comprehensive mortgage relief legislation passed earlier this year, allows borrowers to meet their lender face-to-face to try to reach a settlement on an overdue mortgage...

Negotiating the Power of Consistency with ADR Services and LACBA's Linda Bulmash

Posted on December 09, 2008
Friend and colleague Los Angeles attorney-mediator Linda Bulmash of ADR Services, Inc. advises  us to be consistent in negotiating the resolution of litigation in this month's LACBA negotiation tip. The Power of Consistency in Negotiation and Mediation   When a person makes a public commitment to a course of behavior, the human psyche will push them to follow through with their commitment...

Wal-Mart Settles Wage & Hour at Point of Punitive Damage Gun

Posted on December 09, 2008
image from ChaosScenario Wal-Mart Settles Suit Over Pay for $54 Million MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores, the discount retail giant, will pay up to $54.25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of cutting workers’ break time and allowing employees to work off the clock in Minnesota...

Hard Times Make Good Neighbors: Collaborative Home Loan Re-Negotiation

Posted on December 08, 2008
We are in this together. Remember. The bottom supports the middle and the middle supports the top. The current economy is Exhibit A. Link to L.A. Times story (more in-depth analysis) here. If your side of the boat sinks, my does too.

Negotiating Women: 5th and Final Part

Posted on December 06, 2008
Thanks again to Vicki Flaugher of SmartWomanGuides.com for inviting me to have this conversation with her about ways in which women can and do maximize their bargaining power.  And yes we do talk about negotiating the purchase of an automobile here as well!  

Negotiating Women Part IV

Posted on December 05, 2008

A Single Ray of Resolution Optimism in the Darkest Movie in American Film History

Posted on December 05, 2008
Must read:  Embracing Conflict's analysis of Dueling Banjoes in Deliverance written by  Niel Denny, a Collaborative family solicitor working in the South West of England who is a member of my twitter network here: @nieldenny. Excerpt and video below but a reading of the entire post is a must for anyone looking for reasons to believe that we can reach one another across political, cultural, religious, social and economic divides...

Negotiating Women Part III

Posted on December 05, 2008
This segment of my interview with Vicki Flaughter is primarily about why women don't negotiate - to their substantial economic detriment - (see Women Don't Ask Here) and what they can do about it.

Negotiating Women Part II

Posted on December 04, 2008
In part two of Vicki Flaugher's interview with me, we discuss ways in which women can comfortably respond to aggressive zero-sum distributive bargainers and  negotiate better business deals using their natural strengths. I'd like to once again thank Vicki Flaugher of the Smart Woman Guides for helping me stay (somewhat) on point in discussing those negotiation challenges particular to women...

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Blawg 100: Great Blogs in the Year 2008

Posted on December 04, 2008
No, I did not make the ABA's Blawg 100 this year, but my good online buddy, the brilliant and energetic Susan Cartier Liebel of Build a Solo Practice and Solo Practice University did.  Here's just one of the many reasons Susan has the following she does...

Oops!! $6,000 in Attorney Sanctions for Failure to Notify Appellate Court Case Had Settled

Posted on December 03, 2008
Nothing irritates a court more than doing unnecessary work because counsel fails to comply with the local rules.  Here in Huschke v. Slater, the Court was sufficiently put out to order that the attorney "personally" pay the sanctions ("don't even think about asking your client to pay, buster!") and to order the opinion published for all the world to see...

Negotiating Women: Never Negotiate Out of Fear, But Never Fear to Negotiate --

Posted on December 02, 2008
Video below is part I of an interview on negotiation challenges, strategies and tactics for women with Vicki Flaugher, founder of SmartWoman Guides.  The full audio of the video is here along with Ms. Flaugher's kind comments about our conversation...

Small Lessons for Lawyers and Business People in Building Community

Posted on December 01, 2008
Restorative justice is the criminal version of civil mediation.  It stresses accountability, admission of guilt, forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is the basis for Truth & Reconciliation Commissions that address harm done by one group of people to another that is rarely redressable by a criminal justice remedy...

Restorative Justice: Accountability and Forgiveness

Posted on December 01, 2008
When I read accounts like the one below, I always ask myself, "what trespasses have I suffered that would permit me not to forgive?" As she sat in her boyfriend’s car, a young Texas woman named Dee Dee Washington was shot and killed — an innocent bystander of a drug deal gone bad...

Blawg Review Thanks Giving # 188 at Alice's Restaurant with New York Personal Injury Law Blog

Posted on December 01, 2008
You have to be of a certain age, an age I myself am barely tall enough to be (right, 23 in 1975) or of a certain nostalgic hippie-era state of mind (right again) which Eric Turkewitz must himself be since he cannot have lived nearly as many years as I have, to celebrate Blawg Review #188 with an authentic Alice's Restaurant Thanksgiving dinner...

How We Tell the Tale Determines How We Resolve the Problem

Posted on November 30, 2008
People who are joined together by a dispute -- which includes everyone engaged in litigation and their attorneys -- are suffering more than most from a universal cognitive bias known as fundamental attribution error.  FAE is one of the ways we explain our troubles to one another...

Negotiating Potential Liability at Holiday Parties

Posted on November 29, 2008
Planning on partying like its 1999 to boast morale in your law firm?  Check out tips offered by Morrison & Foester in  Holiday Parties: Morale Boost but Employer Beware back in December of 1999, advice that is as timely today as it was then...

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