Arbitration & Mediation

diversity in the amlaw100? who are we kidding?

Posted on September 08, 2010
Most law firms state their commitment to diversity and inclusivity, prominently featuring on their diversity pages the pathetically few women and minorities in positions of genuine economic power in the firm.  Are they walking the talk?  Let me count the ways...

It's the Rapport, Dummy!

Posted on September 07, 2010
Thanks to Weise Law Studio (studio? interesting) for the following from the Harvard Program on Negotiation. How is it that mediators—who themselves lack any power to impose a solution—nevertheless often lead bitter disputants to agreement? Substantive expertise helps, as does keen analytic skill...

Settle It with Push Ups?

Posted on September 07, 2010
For an enlightened manly-man resolution to the patently insane prospect of litigating a $40,000 dispute, see the WSJ Law Blog post ADR Chronicles: Taylor Lautner Gets Settlement Offer for the Ages Lautner . . . star of the 'Twilight' movies, recently sued McMahon, the owner of an RV dealership in Irvine, Calif, for allegedly failing to deliver a customized vehicle in time for the shoot of his new movie, 'Abduction...

prisons of peace

Posted on September 07, 2010
Can we afford not to learn and teach these skills?  Cross-posted at She Negotiates.

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three is the magic number . . .

Posted on September 01, 2010
. . . and the Supreme Court has it.  Check out The Female Factor over at Slate (excerpt below): Social scientists contend that the difference is more than just cosmetic. They cite a 2006 study by the Wellesley Centers for Women that found three to be the magic number when it came to the impact of having women on corporate boards: After the third woman is seated, boards reach a tipping point at which the group as a whole begins to function differently...

testing

Posted on August 30, 2010
www.facebook.com/pages/She-Negotiates-Consulting-and-Training/154481911229603?ref=ts

She Negotiates the End of the Glass Ceiling

Posted on August 27, 2010
How do we "sell" the nation on the idea that women's work is as valuable as men's? Despite the fact that 90 years have passed since women were given the vote and 40 since an entire generation of women raised their voices against unequal treatment under the law, we continue to make a third of what our men do...

she negotiates, framing, "ground zero mosque vs. islamic ymca," women's networking and more

Posted on August 26, 2010
Listen to internet radio with Women On The Move on Blog Talk Radio

Negotiating Women on Blog Talk Radio Tonight (8/24) at 8 p.m. EDT

Posted on August 24, 2010
Cross-posted at She Negotiates. At 8 PM Women on the Move gets down to business with attorney Victoria Pynchon, author of the Settle It Now Negotiation Blog, who has been called a 'master of conflict resolution and deposition skills.' Victoria recently became a regular contributor to Forbes...

The Los Angeles Federal Bar Welcomes New ADR Director Gail Killefer

Posted on August 24, 2010
As a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and incoming Chair of the FBA's ADR Section, I'd like to wish the Central District's new Settlement Officer Panel Czar a hearty welcome to the District and to Los Angeles. Gail Killifer has been actively mediating with Killefer Mediation for the past nine years...

An Open Letter to Women ADR Professionals to Join Us at the WLALA Gala on September 16

Posted on August 19, 2010
Dear Fabulous Women Neutrals of Los Angeles: One last time!! before the door closes on the opportunity to have your picture in the WLALA Tribute book and to share two tables with your fellow neutrals at the WLALA annual Installation Dinner and Gala...

Scruggs Memo Supporting Motion to Vacate Conviction on Supreme's "Honest Services" Opinion

Posted on August 19, 2010
Motion here. Story over at Forbes On the Docket anon.

L.A. Mediator and the LASC Pro Bono Panel: the Canary in the Coal Mine

Posted on August 18, 2010
(pictured:  Nancy Botwin, preparing to torch her suburban home) I once lived in the neatly trimmed suburban neighborhood of litigation.  Although bullies sometimes populated the streets, because residents share important values (critical thinking, evidence-based fact-finding, and,  the application of the rule of law to competing claims) its streets are clean, its trains run on time and its police force keeps most of the "bad element" out of town...

L.A. Mediator and the LASC Pro Bono Panel: Hope and Safety or Rupture and Repair?

Posted on August 16, 2010
If your intent is transformation, you can get there by reading the telephone directory. ~ Unknown My primary job as a mediator, aside from learning the "case" and acquainting myself as deeply as possible with the parties' interests - is to "hold the space" of resolution...

L.A. Mediator and the LASC Pro Bono Panel: the Confessional

Posted on August 15, 2010
It is a truism that our greatest weaknesses can also be our greatest strengths.  We all have something that we'd like to see changed.  We're too easily startled by the unexpected.  We don't have easy access to our own emotional lives.  We're short-tempered...

L.A. Mediators and the LASC Pro Bono Panel

Posted on August 14, 2010
Spoiler alert:  this will ramble, so anyone who wants a quick shot of mediation or negotiation advice, do come back soon. The Back Story When I first dipped my big toe into mediation's waters by taking Mediating the Litigated Case in a downtown hotel ballroom back in the Spring of 2004, generous attorney-mediators like Jeff Kichaven, Laurel Kaufer, Bob Steinberg, Jan Frankel Schau, Steve Cerveris, and Deborah Rothman all arrived on the beachhead of my new profession with advice, support, empathy, and warnings...

It's Good to Be in the MIddle: A Little Negotiation Gratitude

Posted on August 10, 2010
On a personal note, it's great to feel in the middle of things again . . . as Billy Collins described it in Aristotle, This is the middle. Things have had time to get complicated, messy, really. Nothing is simple anymore. Cities have sprouted up along the rivers teeming with people at cross-purposes – a million schemes, a million wild looks...

Advance Praise for A is for Asshole, the Grownups' Guide to Conflict Resolution

Posted on August 09, 2010
Book launch in September!  Stay tuned! If you always wanted a raw, gutsy, no-holds-barred, emotionally wrenching, profoundly inspiring, intellectually challenging account of what actually happens in conflict and a no-nonsense guide to the practice of mediation, look no further...

Another ADR Services Neutral Shouts Down Premature Mediators' Proposals

Posted on August 09, 2010
Unwelcome mediator's proposals are trial counsel's single biggest mediation headache. Done correctly, a mediator's proposal builds on prior negotiations, manifests the parties' unspoken intent to settle and bridges the gap to closure. Done poorly, a mediator's proposal is a bell that cannot be unrung...

Virtual Property, Virtual Litigation and Real Resolution

Posted on August 08, 2010
I continue to bark at the moon. Here's a piece I missed in April on real litigation filed over virtual property in Second Life. Architect David Denton spends much of his time on a lush tropical island, where he experiments with cutting-edge building designs and creates spaces for artists to showcase their work...

Capuchin Monkeys, Irrational Choices, and Hope for the Future

Posted on August 08, 2010

26 ways for a retired judge to F$@! up a will contest mediation

Posted on August 07, 2010
(pictured:  retired Judge hearing for the first time that his job as a mediator is to facilitate a negotiated resolution, not  to decide the legal action in the absence of evidence) I have often bemoaned the spotty state of mediation education, training and mentoring in the ranks of those people who mediate litigated cases...

If Your Client Wants ACTION (and whose doesn't) Try CPR's Model Economical Litigation Agreement

Posted on August 06, 2010
  #cg_msg_content a:link {color:#485695;text-decoration:underline;}#cg_msg_content a:active {color:#485695;text-decoration:underline;}#cg_msg_content a:visited {color:#485695;text-decoration:underline;}#cg_msg_content a:hover {color:#c60;text-decoration:none;} CPR's Model Economical Litigation Agreement (ELA) Reducing Civil Litigation Costs with a Litigation Prenup What is an ELA? An ELA is a hybrid of civil litigation and arbitration, where parties agree to use finite, defined and proportional discovery procedures in lieu of conventional discovery...

Negotiation is a Conversation Leading to Agreement

Posted on August 02, 2010
From today's "She Negotiates" lesson. If negotiation is a conversation with agreement as its goal, we should not be wasting our time arguing with one another about whose point of view is the best. We should be talking to one another about how we can both achieve as many of the goals we both want to achieve as a result of our conversation...

yes we can! negotiate our jobs back! at ForbesWoman

Posted on July 29, 2010

The Goddess of Discovery Arrives in the Blogosphere

Posted on July 22, 2010
A criminal defense lawyer I know used to ask me "just exactly what is it that you 'litigators' do everyday anyway?'" What we do, my friend, is discovery.   Discovery.  Saying that discovery is part of litigation practice is like talking about the wet part of the ocean...

Please don't buy me retail

Posted on July 20, 2010
My friend's Women's Bar Association is looking for a speaker.  They wanted that other woman who speaks on the topic of women negotiating.  You know the one . . . what's her name.  Yes, that's her.  The annual meeting committee gave her a ring and she quoted them $10,000 for an hour keynote...

Negotiating Women's Leadership with the PLUS Foundations

Posted on July 15, 2010

Happy Lawyers is Not an Oxymoron Redux

Posted on July 15, 2010
Pictured:  Chere Estrin, Chairperson, Board of Directors, The OLP;  Editor-in-Chief, SUE for Women Litigators; Editor-in-Chief, KNOW the Magazine for Paralegals; CEO, Estrin Education, Inc. I've written about happy and unhappy lawyers before - here and here but I've rarely framed the issue as succinctly or as well as Chere Estrin at the Organization of Legal Professionals...

negotiation - it takes courage

Posted on July 13, 2010
(cross posted at She Negotiates) I asked one of my consulting clients for a testimonial yesterday. "Anything," she said, "it's genuinely changed the way I do everything.  It's not just the shift in my business relationship with [BigBiz, Inc...

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