It is uncomfortable for all concerned when a party to a mediation disowns the "settlement" purported to have been reached and challenges the enforceability of the writing made at the mediation session. A previous post discussed a New Jersey case in which the mediator offered testimony as to whether there...
The 16th meeting of the World Mediation Forum of the UIA was held in Lisbon, Portugal, on January 27-28, 2012. It was very well attended; Co-President Colin Wall noted that attendees came from 31 countries. A panel on mandatory mediation brought out some interesting recent developments, including a game-changer in Italy. ...
Molly Klapper's book Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation features an insightful and practical contribution by Dwight Golann about "insulting" opening offers or demands. He suggests why they are made, how they can be conveyed by a mediator, and how they can be converted to useful negotiations. ...
The second post on Molly Klapper's book, Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation, focuses on a deceptively simple and profoundly wise short essay by Laura Kaster, Addressing Impasse by Helping the Parties Value the Case. She opens her piece with a "much overlooked but obvious" point: "Settling or mediating a...
Just before Molly Klapper's recent and much-mourned death, the New York State Bar Association released a wonderful book she had worked hard to edit: Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation. The volume contains many useful contributions from extraordinarily accomplished mediators and trainers. This and the following posts will highlight some...
The mediation scene in Italy sometimes seems like the upper balcony at La Scala: Lots of opinions snd shouting but uncertain direction or authority. Happily, Italy is graced with some real mediation leadership, some of whom are young, enegetic, persistent, articulate and smart. One such is Alessandro Bruni. Alessandro has recently...
Mediators are trained to detect subtle opportunities for value-adding integrative outcomes: separating positions from interests, offering out-of-the-box suggestions, and looking for ways that the parties can find mutual benefit. For me, that ended in an early-career EEOC mediation where the ADA claimant, having been offered every accommodation to her disability, refused to withdraw...