I just finished reading Becoming by Michelle Obama (Crown Publishing 2018). While the book is an autobiography of the former First Lady, its theme is more than just a story about how some African American kid from the Southside of Chicago broke multiple barriers to become a world known public figure. It is about empathy, [...]
First and foremost, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year; I hope that it proves to be a happy, healthy and very prosperous one for each of you. As I am still recovering from the holidays, I decided to post a blog about a very big change in the law regarding [...]
In past blog posts, I have discussed implicit biases and how important it is to recognize their existence and to counteract them in our daily lives. Yet, there may be another and more positive way of looking at them. It is simply a question of “framing”. (See below!) A November 27, 2018 blog posted on [...]
I had a really weird almost mediation recently. It was a lemon law matter. It cancelled at the last minute simply because plaintiff’s counsel (let’s call her Joan) was sending another attorney (let’s call her Janice) in her stead. The defendant did not like this substitution and so cancelled. It all started when defense counsel [...]
The art of negotiation seems to be very much in the news today, with issues involving trade, tariffs, immigration, arms sales, nuclear arms, et cetera. In preparing to teach a class on negotiation ethics as part of my Mediation Ethics course at USC Gould School of Law, it dawned on me that the leaders of [...]
Informed Consent in Mediations Taking Place in California Originally published in the Daily Journal, September 28, 2018. Download the PDF Version of the Article Here Sometimes parties attend mediation without the proper preparation. If the matter is in litigation, their attorney may not have met with them beforehand to explain the process of mediation [...]
One well known mantra of mediators is that it is always better to mediate prior to filing a lawsuit than to incur the time and expense lawsuits entail. Most lawyers will tell you that litigation is the most expensive and least efficient way of resolving a matter; yet, they will typically file a lawsuit and [...]
I just finished conducting a mediation (lemon law) which did not settle. And I think the prime reason was that there were too many different attorneys handling the matter. Although in the same firm, they apparently were not communicating with each other or the representative of the client handling the mediation. Plaintiff purchased a vehicle [...]