Recently in Mediation Category

This post was written by StephanieWestAllen: "Abstract:

Mediation has grown tremendously in the last three decades, yet only a small number of mediators have been able to benefit financially from its growth. The supply of willing mediators by far exceeds the demand for their services. Mediator trainee overoptimism and the lack of formal barriers to entry result in excess entry in the market for mediators..."

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Source: idealawg, 8 March 2010, reproduced with permission of the author

This post was written by JD Hull: "For lawyers, depositions are like CAT Scans. It seems you can never be faulted for doing one too many.

If we can ever get international arbitration and mediation away from litigators like me, and over to the true "resolvers", it may work as it was intended, and as many GCs still want it to work. In the meantime, do read "Changes In Legal Practice And The Use Of ADR" by Richard Webb at his Healthcare Neutral ADR. Excerpts [follow]

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Source: What About Clients? 3 March 2010. © 2005-2010 John Daniel Hull, reproduced with permission of the author.

Posted by StephanieWestAllen: "Thanks, SSRN.

• "The Four Ways to Assure Mediator Quality (and Why None of Them Work)"
• "Caucus with Care: The Impact of Pre-Mediation Caucuses on Conflict Resolution"
• "'I' Before 'E', Except in Mediation: Training Introverts to Use Extroverted Techniques to Become Stronger Mediators"

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Source: idealawg, 19 November 2009

Posted by StephanieWestAllen: "Professor Dan Druckman bases his suggestions on research and case studies. I learned of him and his paper "Intuition or Counter-Intuition?: The Science Behind the Art of Negotiation" in a blog post by Phyllis G. Pollack; in the post she talks about both the presentation Dr. Druckman gave last weekend at the conference of the Southern California Mediation Association and his article.

I have not read the article yet but found on the 'net highlights of a talk he gave, at the Business School of the University of Western Australia, with the same title as the article. Here are his suggestion from the School's Web site:

• Discourage quick agreements by avoiding rapid concession exchanges.
• If an optimal or integrative solution/outcome is easy to discover, avoid exchanging "too much" information...
• Time the display of tough and soft tactics, sequencing them by presenting firm postures early, softer postures later.
• Do not use your experience or acquired skills to secure a better agreement only for yourself; use the skills to engage in log rolling and other tactics that can secure improved outcomes for all the negotiating parties.
• Negotiators generally want to settle; they also tend to approach negotiation as competitors...
• Orchestrate the negotiating situation for flexibility by insulating the talks from media coverage, avoiding ideological debates, and reducing accountability to constituencies or other parties with vested interests in the outcome.
• Avoid embarrassing your opponent...
• For third parties: Suggest compromises early to establish a reputation for fairness, but discourage actually making compromises in favor of an information exchange.
• Impasses can be useful...

Have any of you read "Intuition or Counter-Intuition?: The Science Behind the Art of Negotiation"?

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Source: idealawg, 13 November 2009

From the site: "In part one of Credit Card Consumers & Arbitration, co-hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams discussed consumer rights and mandatory arbitration used when a dispute between the credit card holder and the credit card company arises. In part two, Bob & Craig welcome back Attorney Deepak Gupta,  staff attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group and Attorney Alan Kaplinsky, senior partner at the firm, Ballard Spahr Andrews and Ingersoll,  to discuss the Arbitration Fairness Act, what's next in arbitration and add their insight to the already lively discussion on this controversial topic.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:28 -- 28.1MB)

Related Podcasts

August 27, 2009 -- Credit Card Consumers & Arbitration

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Source: Legal Talk Network, 3 September 2009

Posted by Chuck Newton: "Oh, that is a mouthful, but it is true.

I read this recently about business in general and I think from my experience it applies to law clients as well.  A referral has a 60% chance of becoming a sale, with other methods coming in a distant 10% or less.  It is actually a lot less.

Does this mean that an attorney is not closing 90% of the clients that go through his office based upon advertising, let us say?

No.  But, what it does say, and what we know is true, is that 60% of those people referred to you by a reliable source are likely to make their way through your entire system, from calling, to booking an appointment, to actually showing up at your office, going through the legal options available with you, agreeing to retain you and actually paying you money...

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Source: Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave, 26 May 2009

Posted by StephanieWestAllen: "If you are interested in mediation (after reading this article, I hesitate to say the "field" or "profession" of mediation), you will want to read this interview of Diane Levin."

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Source: idealawg, 30 April 2009

Posted by StephanieWestAllen: "The Operations Director of the International Mediation Institute e-mailed me an article with the above title. Irena Vanenkova writes:

I would like to offer you the article Can Mediation Evolve into a Global Profession? by Michael McIlwrath, Senior Counsel-Litigation, GE Oil & Gas, Florence, Italy and Chairman of the Board of IMI, where he presents the perspective of a leading corporate user of mediation services on the vital issue of evolving Mediation into a Global Profession for the future growth of mediation.

Excerpt from the article:

[M]ethods of dispute resolution ... over time adapt to changes in their surrounding environments.  In fact, I recently had the privilege of interviewing cultural anthropologist Robert Carniero, curator of South American ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who explained his experiences living for periods with different tribes in the Amazon basin, and their approaches to dispute resolution.   As Dr. Carniero explains it, primitive and rather brutal forms of dispute resolution - such as beating each other with heavy wooden clubs - works just fine when the groups consist of no more than 50 or 100 people and those not content with the outcome can just move away. 

Things get more complicated, however, as societies grow in size and complexity, and so far all large societies have evolved within them formal justice systems.  In fact, it appears that societies cannot

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Source: idealawg, 25 March 2009

Posted by JD Hull: "The panel will kindly note she's had several seconds to answer. Nothing further. And I will sit down. In international arbitration and mediation, first-language barriers can be the least of the challenges for your client. Consider, too, subtleties like the meaning of the "delayed answer" to a question. In one culture, delay means hesitancy and evasiveness (e.g., to most Westerners); in another, it may denote careful consideration of the question, and a sign of respect to the questioner.

In IDN No. 61, GE's in-house counsel Mike McIlwrath interviews Australian mediator Joanna Kalowski for the second time (see IDN No. 44). Kalowski, who works out of both Australia and Paris, shares how she became a mediator and lessons that come directly from her work. Kalowski has also trained mediators in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Italy, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Their 25-minute discussion, "Public Consensus Across Cultures", just taped on February 13, is part of McIlwrath's award-winning interview series on International Dispute Negotiation sponsored by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, or CPR."

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Source: What About Clients?, 16 February 2009

Posted by Justin Patten: "Interest in using mediation to resolve conflict at work continues to grow as HR professionals and business managers face the challenges of keeping staff motivated (if not happy) as well as satisfying shareholders desire for profits or growth.

Human Law Mediation is encouraged to see such interest but also concerned. Concerned that for those inexperienced in mediation mistakes could be made unless some of the finer details of mediation are understood.

I've written before (Mediation, not for the uninitiated) about the different skill sets required by mediators and lawyers when handling disputes and conflict but here I want to focus on two distinct forms of mediation - with some pointers on in what circumstances each should be used."

Read more about:

Mediation Before It Goes Legal

Post-legal Mediation

At: Human Law, 16 December 2008