Hans Peter Frick, General Counsel of Nestlé, once offered this guidance for business mediators: You can either make what you think is a good candy bar and convince people that they "ought to" buy it, or you could go out and ask people what kind of candy bar they want, and...
The annual Conference of the International Bar Association in Vancouver presented several panels of unusual distinction and interest. This first report covers a group of speakers posing the questions: "What does it take to persuade? How does a lawyer cause an arbitrator, judge, businessperson or other lawyer, to willingly reach the...
Don't make me swear to it, but I believe it was Karl Slaikeu who first presented to me the four stages -- or, better, "declensions" -- of ending a conflict. If it was somebody else, my apology. Which, by the way, is the first stage....
Of the many skilled mediators I have been privileged to know, few are more insightful and articulate than Robert Creo. Bob recently shared a terrific perspective over a tasty lunch: That three discussions, or dances, inform a negotiated settlement discussion, and only one of them is acknowledged by the parties. ...
At the ABA Annual Meeting, in the course of a panel on arbitration developments, veteran arbitrator Deborah Rothman tee-ed up a fascinating challenge. Clients regularly engage consultants in litigation. Why not in arbitration? Indeed, isn't the value of a consultant in arbitration much more evident? Arbitration has special challenges, different legal...
Last Spring, the ABA Sections of Business Law and of Dispute Resolution featured several programs anticipating the release of the Protocols for Expeditious, Cost-Effective Commercial Arbitration promulgated by the College of Commercial Arbitrators. The Protocols are the main product of the multi-party Summit that was convened by the CCA in October...
On Saturday of the ABA Annual Meeting a group of judges presented a panel on "ADR in the Business Courts: How Commercial Judges Encourage Settlement." Joining Vice Chancellor Don Parsons (Delaware), Judge Steven Platt (Maryland), Judge Ira Warshawsky (New York) and Judge Ben Tennille (North Carolina) were Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth...