Alternative Dispute Resolution
Apr. 30, 2011
Should Mediation Confidentiality Extend to Lawyer-Client Communications?
Recent decisions affecting mediation confidentiality are contrary to the goal of alternative dispute resolution.
A. Marco Turk
Emeritus Professor, CSU Dominguez Hills
Email: amarcoturk.commentary@gmail.com
A. Marco Turk is a contributing writer, professor emeritus and former director of the Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding program at CSU Dominguez Hills, and currently adjunct professor of law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law.
This year the state Supreme Court in Cassel v. Superior Court decided that, even in a subsequent lawsuit between a client and his lawyers, mediation confidentiality statutes do protect private discussions between a mediating client and his attorneys.
Like Justice Ming W. Chin in his concurring opinion, I agree that the court's hands were tied by the statutory provisions, and that removal of this loophole protecting lawyers potentially guilty of malpractice must be d...For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
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