Mediation
Articles
Mediation Is a Part of the USDA's Civil Rights Agenda
According to FarmFutures.com, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will study the need for an alternative dispute resolution process to avoid future backlogs. "This issue [of current cases] has been going on for far too long," concluded Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
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Strategies, Including Mediation, Can Cut Businesses' Legal Costs
Companies can employ a variety of strategies to reduce legal costs. Examples include: 1) Handling more legal-related activities internally, rather than farming work out to law firms. 2) Scrutinizing all legal-related budgets. 3) Negotiating more cost-effective compensation structures with outside counsel, including contingency and incentive arrangements. 4) Pursuing less risky and costly means of dispute resolution, such as arbitration and mediation, rather than litigation.
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Mediation and Arbitration: Not At All the Same Thing
In mediation, two parties generally work with the neutral third-party mediator to reach a mutually agreeable solution to a dispute. Parties to mediation are not required to reach a settlement, but a settlement that is reached can be made binding if both parties agree after the fact. In arbitration, two parties generally present evidence to a neutral third-party arbitrator, who considers the evidence, applies the law and renders a binding decision.
Both arbitration and mediation are forms of alternative dispute resolution that allow parties to settle or resolve legal disputes outside of the court system. Following coverage of the overcrowding of Iowa courts and the use of forms of ADR to help, Cora L. Ganzglass wrote into the Des Moines Register saying that mediation and arbitration are not the same. The letter to the editor was written in response to "Mediation Gains Ground in Iowa”.
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Alternative Liability Resolution for Doctors - Mediation
According to the American Medical Association, more doctors are considering mediation and other voluntary methods to avoid a costly, adversarial court system. But some say it's no panacea for doctors' liability woes.
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Mediation Encouraged as Cost-Effective Dispute Resolution
Mediating disputes outside of court means dramatic cost savings. A recent report in Lawyers USA estimated that a mediated dispute runs a cost of about $6,000, compared with up to $150,000 for a lawsuit. With the state of today's economy, this cost differential is encouraging more parties to take a closer look at mediation.
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Mediation Represents New Direction for Retiring Top Attorney
For 20 years Dave Nelson has been the face of the Minnehaha County Court. The long-time attorney has prosecuted murderers, robbers, and shop-lifters. But, at the end of the year Nelson is closing his court files and stepping down as Minnehaha County's top prosecutor. So what's next for this top attorney? "I may take a couple of courses in being a mediator,” stated Nelson. “I think that there is a future in the law for alternative dispute resolution so that people may resolve their differences without the necessity of going to court," Nelson said.
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For Construction Tiffs Mediating and Arbitrating Beat Litigating
Dispute resolution offered by organizations like the National Arbitration Forum can be a quick, low-cost alternative to traditional litigation for disputes between consumers and contractors. Mediation is faster and less expensive for the home buyer, reports the New Mexico Business Weekly. In addition, it is better for the builder and less taxing on the court system. And, according to a 2005 HarrisInteractive Market Research poll, 63 percent of respondents found arbitration simpler in settling a dispute. Peter Merrill, CEO of Construction Dispute Resolution services, explains that arbitration is currently underutilized as a form of dispute resolution in the construction industry. However, this could change if more construction contracts included an arbitration clause.
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One Lawyer's Advice on How-To Mediate Personal Injury Claims
Brian Herrington of Herrington Law has several pieces of advice for those looking to mediate litigation cases involving personal or economic injury. He cautions that unless the issues of law and facts are fully understood by both parties, mediation may fail. Herrington recommends ensuring the person in charge of payment is present, speaking privately to the mediator about interacting with all parties involved, and setting definitive time limits for progress in order to complete a successful mediation to the satisfaction of both parties. Above all, mediation +is not a one-size-fits all process and should be approached differently depending on the situation.
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Healthcare Caregiver Relationships Eased by Mediation
As part of the CBS series The Caregivers, CBS news correspondent Thalia Assuras examines the lives of the Burrows siblings, who were unable to agree on the proper care for their elderly parents. The siblings turned to a trained mediator from the Elder Decisions Agency of Boston to facilitate their discussions. Says Warren Burrows, "It got us moving; not that we weren't moving before, but it got us to focus."
Check out the installment, "Mediators Save Caregivers' Relationships: Professionals Can Help Siblings Make The Tough Health Care Decisions For Aging Parents," on CBS News' website.
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Mediation Benefits IP Community
Published on Mondaq.com on November 7, 2006, “Mediation Of Intellectual Property Disputes” by Manisha Singh Nair provides an excellent overview of mediation's benefit to the IP community. “Even when a settlement is not achieved,” writes Mrs. Singh Nair, “mediation never fails, as it causes the parties to define the facts and issues of the dispute, preparing the ground for subsequent arbitration or court proceedings.” Mrs. Singh Nair also lists several types of IP disputes well suited for mediation, including the licensing (and infringing) of IP rights. Mediation, such as that offered by the National Arbitration Forum, can help resolve disputes over intellectual property issues.
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Survey Results Confirm Popularity of ADR Among Lawyers
Survey results of attorneys' ADR preference and usage have just been published online at the American Bar Association General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division (GPSolo) website. In late 2005, the GPSolo Division and the National Arbitration Forum collaborated on a survey designed to discover members' needs and preferences regarding negotiation, mediation, and other forms of ADR.
A decided majority (over 85%) of GPSolo respondents believe that their clients' interests are at least sometimes best served by offering ADR solutions. More than one in three ABA GPSolo respondents would value opportunities to learn more about the distinctions and implications of the rules and panels of national ADR providers. And most ABA GPSolo respondents want additional information about ADR, including empirical studies comparing litigation to ADR, effective contract drafting techniques, and education about the laws governing mediation and arbitration.
Survey Results
Focus on Partnership, Not Pit-Bull Mentality
In the Atlanta Business Chronicle's article, “Profession's ‘Pit-Bull' mentality Losing Its Teeth,” contributing writer Lori Johnson explores the correlation between the rise of ADR and the decline of combative tactics in the legal profession. The renewed focus on professionalism and partnership is being encouraged by not only bar associations but state courts as well, as a Florida court recently ruled that a firm's TV ads featuring an aggressive pit-bull were “demeaning to the legal profession.”
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The Mediation Train Has Left the Station
In the Daily News article “Nowadays, Mediation is to Law As Reality Shows are to Prime Time TV,” Jocelyn Dan Wurzburg of the Memphis-area practice Jocelyn Wurzburg Mediation recalls to author Andrew Ashby that in the 1980s, she was completely unable to persuade her fellow attorneys to practice mediation: “ I kept trying to tell them that this train had left the station and we attorneys were either going to be the engine or we were going to be the caboose.” Ashby chronicles the subsequent task forces, commissions, studies and petitions that culminated in the state court's adoption of its mediation program, whose panel has nearly doubled in the past five years to 900 court-qualified mediators.
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Top Ten Essentials for the Mediation Advocate
In this San Diego Daily Transcript article, author Craig Higgs, a fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and International Academy of Mediators, reminds readers that in light of the high percentage of cases that settle before trial (approximately 95%), mediation advocacy skills are extremely valuable to attorneys. Higgs provides 10 essential recommendations to any attorney preparing for a mediation session, ranging from basic preparation advice to advanced settlement strategy.
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A New Approach to Divorce and Business—Collaborative Law
In his article, “Collaborative law on the rise, attorneys say,” John T. Falker of the South Florida Business Journal speaks with Robert Merlin and Christy Hertz of Merlin & Hertz, P.A. about collaborative law, a new approach to handling divorce settlements involving family-owned businesses. In collaborative law, family lawyers partner with accountants in order to expedite a financial settlement between divorcing parties. Financial matters are resolved in a manner that is swift, thoroughly researched, and mutually agreeable.
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United Kingdom Patent Office Starts New Mediation Initiative
The UK Patent Office is providing parties with IP disputes another new dispute resolution option: mediation. Ag-IP-news reports that the UK Patent Office, which in late 2005 introduced a “non-binding patent opinions service,” will now offer a mediation service as well, designed to provide IP disputants with another inexpensive alternative to litigation. Ron Marchant, Chief Executive of the Patent Office, said, "the mediation service is another step forward as the Office evolves its services to comprehensively meet customer needs now and into the future by providing choice and flexibility."
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Arbitration and Mediation Are Effective Means of Employee Dispute Resolution
In response to an inquiry about an employer's grievance process, The Boston Globe's “Job Doc” Linda Lerner provides a great explanation of mediation and arbitration, complete with the benefits and advantages of these two ADR options and how they are becoming increasingly popular in employment and labor contracts.
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Mandatory Mediation and Good-Faith Mediation Are Not The Same
A recent posting on Mediate.com by Steve Sovern of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, clarifies a Mediate.com article that does little to distinguish between court-ordered mediation programs requiring “good faith” participation and those that do not. As Sovern, an Iowa mediator himself for over nine years, describes, participation in court-ordered mediation is voluntary in his district. The parties are only required to attend a brief fact-finding session with a mediator, during which they are asked if they would like to proceed with the mediation process. They may still proceed directly with litigation if they would rather do so, although in his experience less than 1% have been unwilling to attempt mediation first.
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Mississippi Unveils Mediation Program Similar to “ Florida Model”
A December 21, 2005 article in the online Insurance Journal reports that Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale intends to implement a mediation program similar to that of Florida to settle hurricane-related insurance disputes.
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Mediation Advice for New Lawyers from the National Arbitration Forum
“Practical Tips for Mediation Success,” written by the National Arbitration Forum's former staff attorney Darin Allen and former law clerk Jeff Homuth, was published in the Minnesota Bar Association New Lawyers Section's quarterly “Hearsay”. The article provides an overview of the mediation process as well as advice for new attorneys on bargaining posture, information sharing with clients, and other topics helpful to those who are new to the practice of ADR.
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Alternative Dispute Resolution Continues to Grow
Reporter Linn Parish of the Spokane Journal of Business talks with Spokane-area attorneys and judges about the growing use of ADR, and narrows her focus to the benefits of mediation, including its high success rate, the likelihood of a positive continuing relationship between parties, and its speed - most mediated settlements are reached in one day.
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