Should You Hire a Particular Mediator? Last fall, the California legislature enacted Assembly Bill 1755, which put a rocket under lemon law cases. One significant change is that it requires every lemon law case filed in state court to be mediated within 150 days of the filing of a responsive [Read More]
Recenly, I came upon a blog post from the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School that is worth discussing. It is entitled “10 Hard Bargaining Negotiation Tactics to Watch” Out for in a Negotiation" by Luis Reyes (September 24, 2025). I have seen one or more of these [Read More]
I had a troubling mediation the other day. I knew something was amiss when I did not get any mediation briefs. Thus, I had no clue what the case was about, much less the issues. While submitting a brief helps me learn about the case, more importantly, it forces the [Read More]
Assembly Bill 1755 (AB 1755) became law on September 29, 2024. It significantly amends California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (ACT), initially adopted in the 1970s. The Act is designed to provide motor vehicle owners with the remedy of restitution or replacement against automobile manufacturers when their vehicle proves to be [Read More]
Suppose you are a mediator and during the mediation, one party, either in a joint or separate session with you, threatens the other party with serious bodily harm or injury if they refuse to settle on the terms proposed. What do you do if anything? Do you ignore it? Keep quiet? [Read More]
You might consider this a strange question since the definition of “mediation” is “a process in which a neutral person or persons facilitate communication between the disputants to assist them in reaching a mutually acceptable agreement” (California Evidence Code 1115(a)). Notice that the operable words are “neutral” and “facilitate.” These [Read More]
In teaching mediation, I discuss the notion that mediation is a process of change, and like all changes, it takes time. It is often a slow process because it entails transformation. The mediation session is a transformation: it transforms one’s thinking. A party will walk into the session thinking one [Read More]
Last fall, the Los Angeles County Superior Court instituted a volunteer mediation panel. The program is designed to help the court better manage its immense caseload by having some of these cases resolved before trial. As part of the program, mediators agree to volunteer three hours of their time to [Read More]
