Giving to the Givers: A Word About Not-for-Profit Charitable Organizations
I want to discuss non-profits in the context of mediation, and also stress the need to donate now to charitable organizations. They were crushed by COVID-19. Not-for-profits frequently gather a significant portion of the operating budget from sponsored events and...
Henry’s Ten Dirty Words You Can’t Say During Mediation
As stated in my engagement letter for mediation, I encourage parties to share position statements or letters before mediation begins. These are not intended for me, but more so for the disputants. The premediation letters should be written for the eyes of the “other”...
Surveys Can Prove Anything, Even the Truth: A Review of Online Mediation
I conducted an informal survey of mediators who belong to the Executive Council of the ADR Section of the Florida Bar asking them two questions. What percentage of mediations are you conducting remotely, and as a percentage of effectiveness how would you rate online...
The Price of Poker Just Went Down: How Smart Defendants Leverage Good Settlements in Catastrophic Cases.
This is the second part of a two-piece article. Last month, we focused on ways claimants can maximize recovery in catastrophic damage cases. This month, we focus on defense strategies for leveraging a good settlement at mediation. Whether you are defending a business,...
Maximizing Value: A Mediator’s Message to Claimant’s Counsel
This is the first of a two-part article on litigating and settling large exposure cases. As a litigator, I defended several products, premises, and aviation accidents resulting in death or catastrophic personal injury. Later I litigated trademark, construction, and...
The Uniqueness of Litigators and the Light Born of Mediation
I was thinking about my mediation clients, meaning the lawyers, and how the litigator’s role differs from other professions. Litigators are in conflict every day, every moment, for their entire careers. Can you identify another job that at its core involves conflict?...
The Mediator’s Wish List
Now that the holiday season is in full swing, you are probably seeking holiday gift-giving lists. Most mediator wish lists are similar. Here is what most mediators would like to receive in case you are still shopping for the holidays. Mediators would like to receive...
This Thanksgiving, where do you sit at the (mediation) table?
I wrote this piece a couple of years ago before I started my own mediation firm. Thanksgiving might be a little different this year, but I thought you might like this article with a little editing to bring it current. Let’s appreciate the loved ones and strange ones...
The Convention of the Witch and the Princess in Zoom Mediation
By now, most of you have participated in a remote mediation, most likely on a Zoom platform. I want to talk about attendance via Zoom and the psychology of communication and helping your cause by managing your virtual appearance. In Western literature and film, there...
Mediation Advocacy as a Competitive Advantage
In what is a difficult time for providing legal services, law firms should be rethinking how they position themselves and obtain a competitive advantage over rivals. I have longed believed that business litigation and insurance defense firms have failed to see mastery...
A Funny Little Thing About Authority in Mediation
Florida has an attendance requirement for insurance carrier representatives tied to the policy limits or the last demand by the claimant. It is Rule 1.720(b). There are some problems, pragmatic and philosophical, with the existing authority rules. Suppose in a...
Mediation Malpractice and Other Oddities
I had a thought-provoking conversation with a marketing representative of a carrier who writes lawyer’s malpractice insurance. We were pondering the notion of malpractice at mediation. Is there such a thing? Yes, and it is more common and more subtle than you might...
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