Quite a few times in the life of this blog, I have visited the notion of preparation. I usually address it as a result of someone attending mediation not being prepared. Well... as you might guess, it happened again. I had a mediation last week where it was obvious that [Read More]
As I have previously mentioned, I am in a book club which reads and discusses books about conflict resolution. The latest is Holding the Calm: The Secret to Resolving Conflict and Defusing Tension by Hesha Abrams (Berrett-Kochler Publishers, Inc., Oakland, Ca. 2022.) The first question one asks is what is [Read More]
Mediation is Hard! Each week, The Economist prints an opinion article in its business section entitled “Bartleby”. Its January 19, 2023 piece is entitled “Why pointing fingers is unhelpful”. Its thesis is that while it is easy and quite tempting to point fingers and blame someone, it is not really [Read More]
During a mediation, one or more parties will often bring up the topic of managing expectations- usually in reference to the other party. The discussion will be to the effect that I, as the mediator, should go into the other conference room and have a “candid” conversation with that party [Read More]
In previous posts, I have discussed the benefits of small talk. It is crucial to building trust and rapport at the start of any mediation. It is crucial for the mediator to get the parties to “like” her which is done through small talk. If the parties do not “like” [Read More]
Happy New Year! I hope that everyone’s 2023 is full of joy, happiness, peace and prosperity…. and brings an end to this pandemic! Browsing the internet for inspiration, I came upon an article in Live Science concerning quantum physics entitled “Does reality exist when we’re not looking” by Paul Sutter. [Read More]
As we all know, mediation has become quite popular if not ubiquitous over the last twenty years. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, it was slowly gaining acceptance; in the last twenty years, it has truly become THE alternative to litigation. (No doubt, the pandemic with its lockdowns creating the necessity [Read More]
On three occasions in the past, I have written about a case in Saginaw, Michigan in which the issue was whether chalking tires on parked vehicles violated the Fourth Amendment’s unreasonable search provision. (See, May 10, 2019; September 10, 2021 and August 19, 2022.) In that case, Taylor vs City [Read More]
