In July 2010, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida accepted the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge John J. O'Sullivan that a mediation settlement agreement be enforced over the objections of the defendant. In so doing, the court engaged in an analysis that would be...
Collaboration -- a practice so often touted by the world's leading ADR organizations -- is too seldom practiced by those organizations themselves. Therefore it is with great pleasure that I note a conference in February being jointly conducted by the ICC and the CPR Institute....
Ben Tennille is Chief Judge of the North Carolina Business Court, and spoke last week to the American College of Business Court Judges on how he runs Case Management Conferences in order to encourage clients to focus on settlement of cases at an early stage. It was an instructive insight into...
We are all too familiar with settling parties who seek to relieve themselves of their settlement agreements. The Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas recently reversed a trial court that had permitted such a party to obtain testimony of opposing counsel's communications during the mediation that led to the...
It is hard (we hope) to find exceptions to the general rule that statements made in mediation are inadmissible. However, Judge J. William Ditter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has held that some party statements can be admissible -- such as statements to the effect...
The International Bar Association has published this month an "e-book" on Mediation Techniques, edited by Patricia Barclay and including practical and pointed insights for professionals and end-users alike....
A sobering -- even frightening -- panel at the IBA's Vancouver conference addressed negotiation in volatile, politically charged and dangerous circumstances -- pushing the boundaries of mediation past the purely commercial, into a world where lives may depend on the skill and success of the negotiator or mediator. Maritime pirates off...