Reflections on 2023

In my final blog of the last three Decembers, I have reflected on the previous 525,600 minutes aka the year.  Another 525,600 minutes have elapsed, and it appears that we are finally  through with the pandemic. However, we are not through with Covid-19 (Or should I say that Covid -19 [Read More]

By |December 22nd, 2023|Uncategorized|

Mediations vs Trials

Last week’s mail brought a Los Angeles County Superior Court Jury Summons by which I am ordered to be available in March for civil jury trials at the main civil courthouse in downtown Los Angeles ….in the middle of a pandemic. Needless to say, due to the surge of the [Read More]

By |February 12th, 2021|Odd stuff, Uncategorized|

Process Before Substance

As part of a book club group, I recently read Negotiating the Impossible: How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (Without Money or Muscle) by Deepak Malhotra (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 2016). The thesis of the book is simple: to resolve any conflict, one must employ Framing, Process and Empathy. [Read More]

By |August 2nd, 2019|Research|

Starting With the Small Stuff

In my early training to be a mediator, the trainer often suggested that to help the parties reach an agreement on the really big issues, start with the small ones. Discuss the easy issues first and obtain agreement on those. This will build momentum and a sense that resolution is [Read More]

By |June 21st, 2019|News articles|

Joint Sessions CAN be Valuable!

Many mediators in California will acknowledge that most parties in litigated cases do not like joint sessions and prefer to mediate using caucuses or separate sessions only. There are various reasons for this, among them a belief that counsel may lose control of the situation, that the joint session will [Read More]

What is “Good Faith”?

Recently, I conducted a mediation in which defense counsel was very candid with me by advising that she was there only because the court ordered the mediation and  her client would just assume take the matter to trial.  In this connection, she further advised that  her  client has been taking [Read More]

By |April 13th, 2018|Mediations|
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