Most folks think that the purpose of mediation is to settle cases. However, in the last few weeks, I have conducted some actual mediations that were "successful" yet did not settle. Although the parties came to mediation with the goal of settling, they walked out accomplishing other purposes.There are many [Read More]
In its April 5, 2013 edition, The Economist had an interesting article in its Science and Technology section about how we judge time. Entitled "Yesterday Came Suddenly", it discusses a study to be published in Psychological Science indicating that we view the future as being closer than the past. Calling [Read More]
I came across a 2009 blog the other day written by Anthony K. Tjan for the Harvard Business Review. It contains 4 simple rules for effective negotiations; reading through them- I found them to be old friends; rules that I have discussed before in my blogs: 1. Be prepared. Mr. [Read More]
A friend of mine is in a business partnership. I will call her "Jane". Over the past few months, Jane has continuously expressed to me her frustration and dissatisfaction with her partners, as it seems that they do not care much for the business aspect of running a partnership. They [Read More]
Suppose you have a jar of coins and ask several friends to bid on the jar. The highest bid will be deemed the winner. According to Richard H. Thaler ( "Anomalies: The Winner's Curse published inThe Journal of Economic Perspectives ( Volume 2, Issue 1)(Winter 1988) at pp. 191-202), (Thaler [Read More]
The February 26, 2013 blog post of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School looked at what role gender plays in the "dictator game". In "The Dictator Game: Justifying Selfishness In Negotiation", the author reviews a recent study on selfishness in negotiation by Fei Song of York University and [Read More]
A few weeks ago, I conducted a "lemon law" mediation. Over the past few months, most of these have been conducted by using separate sessions only; counsel have not wanted to participate in joint sessions. However, this time, plaintiff's counsel wanted to hold a joint session. Defense counsel who had [Read More]
My mother passed away on February 24, 2013. It was expected yet unexpected; sudden yet not so sudden. She was 97 and å_ years old. A week before, she was thriving and everything was fine with her; but then, starting a few days before a scheduled assessment conference with the [Read More]
