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 ...]

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 ...]

A difficult adversary may seem like an impediment to Mediation. After all, if someone is incapable of being [READ MORE ...]

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 ...]

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 ...]

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 ...]

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 ...]

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 ...]

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 ...]

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway phenomenon Hamilton portrays the life of Alexander Hamilton and the origins of our nation with momentum and [READ MORE ...]