I read an article today in the New York Times that I cannot get out of my mind. Entitled “A Rabbi’s Enduring Sermon on Living Your Last Five Minutes” by Samuel G. Freedman (October 1, 2016), it is about Rabbi Kenneth Berger delivering a sermon on Yom Kippur in 1986 [Read More]
In connection with another blog post, I downloaded an internet version of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War translated by the Sonshi Group. In reading through it, I could not help but notice that many of its points relating to “war”, apply with equal force to negotiation, mediation and resolving [Read More]
Once again, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 501, federal privilege law applies to a claim of mediation confidentiality in an action involving both federal and state law claims. In In Re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 14-15916 (filed [Read More]
Where we stand on mediation confidentiality, both in California since the Cassel decision and in the Ninth Circuit Originally published in The Advocate, August 2016 Issue. Download the PDF Version of the Article Here (PDF, 250Kb) Phyllis Pollack. Photograph by Jonah Light During the past year, there [Read More]
Recently, I came across a report from the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation entitled “Salary Negotiations”. (HLS_PON_FR_SalaryNeg_V03_031416_wf ) While it focuses on negotiating the best salary possible, some of its points are equally applicable to negotiations in general. In one of the articles, the authors make three important points: “(1) [Read More]
There are right ways and wrong ways to say “I am sorry”. Most of us have figured out the wrong ways… by accident. We try to apologize only to have it blow up in our faces because we continue on by trying to justify or excuse what we just did [Read More]
Recently, I mediated a matter in which the defense representative did not appear in person but was available by telephone. Her attorney as well as plaintiff and her attorney were physically present. Prior to the mediation, counsel had agreed that the defense representative could be available by telephone as she [Read More]
On June 1, 2016, the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) held its meeting in Sacramento and, as in the past, took up mediation confidentiality as the last item on its agenda. It spent approximately 2 hours discussing the topic. Prior to the meeting, Staff Counsel issued 4 memoranda on the [Read More]
