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While experience is vital in conducting a successful mediation or arbitration, so are insights and understanding. Judge Gordon shares some of her thoughts in her regular series of newsletters.
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Downloadable Resources
A Welcome Solution
After visiting family in San Diego, I attended a meeting of the Southern California members of the International Academy of Mediators. Being invited to join this organization has been one of the highlights of my mediation career. All members openly share their best ideas, practice pointers and their frustrations. I learned a lot. [READ MORE …]
The Road To Settlement
The American Arbitration Association Commercial and Construction Rules now encourage parties to consider retaining a mediator when they file a demand for arbitration. [READ MORE …]
Early Dispute Resolution
The American Arbitration Association Commercial and Construction Rules now encourage parties to consider retaining a mediator when they file a demand for arbitration. [READ MORE …]
Reactive Devaluation. What does that mean?
Humans use unconscious mental shortcuts when they make decisions. The first problem is that most people don’t realize when they are doing it [READ MORE …]
Mediation’s Most Dramatic Moment – The Gap!
Mediation’s Most Dramatic Moment – The Gap! by Judge Elaine Gordon, (ret.) June 2023 by Judge Elaine Gordon, (ret.) Just like a story, mediations have structure and drama. The beginning of mediation focuses on rapport building among the mediator, counsel, and parties. The second stage involves information exchange, and the third stage is the bargaining […]
An Update from the Virtual World . . .
Recently, a study conducted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported that over 90% of participants in online mediations would use it again if they were in another dispute. Seventy per cent reported that they would prefer online mediation to in-person mediation in the future. [READ MORE …]
COVID-19 and ODR
We offer Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) using the Zoom Video Conference protocols. Simply put, we are able to provide an easy, efficient and effective way to [READ MORE …]
Zoom: The New Normal
With more than 60 full day cases under my belt, I am pleased to underscore the positive results of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR). Settlement rates have remained historically high, if not higher. For most of my cases, online proceedings have become [READ MORE …]
Is It Only ‘The Number’?
Mediation is not simply a linear, rational process, which arrives at ‘the number’. Veteran mediators recognize that, for the litigants, the emotional aspects of a settlement often involve far more than just venting. Giving up a goal, settling below a certain expectation, or even achieving a favorable settlement can be [READ MORE …]
Exchanged Submissions in Mediation
After conducting well over 1000 mediations since retiring from the bench, I’ve noticed that successful lawyers realize participation in a mediation is unlike litigation in many aspects. It requires a very unique skill set that begins with [READ MORE …]
Opening Numbers in Mediation
I doubt many of us have seen a dispute settle at a mediation session based on the opening number. Because no one expects the matter to resolve in the first round of bargaining, too little attention is paid to the crafting of opening positions. Some lawyers view [READ MORE …]
Mediation and Metabolism
Peak-Trough-Recovery. Mediators see it all the time. It plays out as three phases during the negotiation of litigated cases: The Opening, the Middle Muddle*, and [READ MORE …]
Mediating with a Difficult Opponent
A difficult adversary may seem like an impediment to Mediation. After all, if someone is incapable of being [READ MORE …]
Better Mediation Through Chemistry
Considerable research has linked the hormone oxytocin with collaboration and creative problem solving. When a person displays trust towards another, the person receiving [READ MORE …]
Can We Talk?
As lawyers trained to work in a courtroom, we are not used to having conversations. We make opening statements, we question, we crossexamine and we argue. In mediation, these skills may well be a [READ MORE …]
Secrets and Surprises
If you are going to trial, a secret may be your silver bullet but this makes little sense when we live in the era of “the vanishing jury trial.” In fact, in most jurisdictions [READ MORE …]
We’re Being Reasonable – Why Aren’t They?
It is not unusual for one or both sides to feel the other side is overvaluing their case and failing to be objective about the risks [READ MORE …]
Secrets of a Successful Mediation
Information is power in our legal culture. Secrets and surprises can create an advantage. Hundreds of years of legal culture make lawyers hesitate [READ MORE …]
5th Anniversary Edition
When I took my first course in mediation in 1993, it was taught as a process with predictable stages: openings; issue identification; caucus; negotiation; agreement; close. In practice, it is a lot less orderly and much more complex than anyone ever tells you. [READ MORE …]
Alexander Hamilton, Mediator and Arbitrator
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway phenomenon Hamilton portrays the life of Alexander Hamilton and the origins of our nation with momentum and [READ MORE …]
Cognitive Bias Not Me
We also try to figure out if we should mediate or settle the case and on what terms. We proceed with confidence in the logic of our opinions [READ MORE …]
Negotiation: Know your Style, Develop Your Skills
In a difficult negotiation, how does your negotiating style change? [READ MORE …]
The Rule of Reciprocity
The rule of reciprocity says that we should “try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us.” This rule is basic [READ MORE …]
Oops – Why Didn’t We Settle?
61% of Plaintiffs who reject settlement offers and go to trial recover an average of $43,100 less than the last offer they [READ MORE …]
Are Mediators Neutral?
Mediator neutrality is a basic tenet of our profession. But what does that mean? Is the Mediator practicing [READ MORE …]
Don’t Step on Their Toes!
Don’t Step on Their Toes! –
The Mediator and Lawyer/Client Relationship [READ MORE …]
Abraham Lincoln Had It Right!
Before he became President, Abraham Lincoln was a very busy Illinois lawyer with an extensive trial and appellate practice. Yet 150 years before anyone thought up the term “ADR”, Mr. Lincoln[READ MORE …]
Putting Children First
Putting Children First: Minimizing Conflict in Custody Disputes by Judge Elaine Gordon (ret.) Elaine Gordon is a retired Superior Court judge and founder of Gordon ADR. She is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators. Check Judge Gordon’s Calendar Former Superior Court Judge […]
