Alternative Dispute Resolution
Nov. 17, 2012
The skeptic's guide to mediation
For lawyers who fear the settlement process, there's a simple answer: evaluate your case realistically and be painfully honest with your client in order to create realistic expectations from the outset.
The only thing more surprising than the number of times that I have started a mediation with one or both parties telling me some version of: "This case will never settle," is the number of times that the very same case settles at mediation. Often, I feel that the parties or their counsel secretly hope that the case won't settle. I was reminded of this when reading a recent commentary by a political "talking head" wherein she described President Barack Obama's re-election as the "triumph ...
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