Mediation Blog
Shoudl Mediators Be Drafting Settlement Agreements?
Recently, the topic of whether mediators should draft settlement agreements arose in my mediation ethics class. I suggested that if the parties have attorneys, the mediator should encourage the attorneys to draft the agreement. A [Read More]
Never Mediate During a Heat Wave!
Every day we read and/or see news of how climate change has affected or is impacting our daily lives. Well- an article in Live Science suggests that heat may cause us to be more aggressive [Read More]
Informed Consent
Once again, I am teaching mediation ethics to graduate students at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. Over the last couple of weeks, we have been focusing on “informed consent.” [Read More]
Mediation Ripeness
Many decades ago, when I was in law school, I learned about the “ripeness doctrine” in my Constitutional law course. Simply stated, this doctrine limits the power of a federal court to adjudicate cases that [Read More]
Faking Emotions During A Mediation
A recent blog post (dated August 21,2023) by the staff at Harvard’s PONS (Program on Negotiation) concludes that while sincere anger may be advantageous in a negotiation, appearing to be happy may or may not [Read More]
Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert?
In my practice of mediation, I never gave this question any thought! But I should. I just finished reading a book entitled Quiet by Susan Cain (Broadway Books, New York 2013) and realized that our [Read More]
