TIPS FOR GUIDING YOUR CLIENT THROUGH THE MEDIATION PROCESS

INTRODUCTION

With all the tangible and intangible costs associated with litigation today, mediation is becoming more common as a means of resolving disputes. Judges are ordering or at least recommending them, and contracts are stipulating them as part of their alternative dispute resolution clauses. As a result, good law schools around the country are including mediation and mediation advocacy courses in their curriculum, and many retired judges and lawyers are hanging out their shingles as they build their mediation practices.

Having mediated many disputes across a range of practice areas, I have noticed that attorneys trained and experienced in litigation, do not have the skills to guide their clients through a mediation process. Toward this end, I present some ideas and guidelines to help attorneys counsel and navigate their clients through a successful mediation.

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"PROCEDURAL INTEGRITY – Building Relationships As We Negotiate"

INTRODUCTION

Many of us are very cognizant about what we need to negotiate, but few of us are as aware about how we negotiate. The process that we implement in the negotiation will impact the relationship and ultimately the outcome (or impasse).

I compare the process of a negotiation to the foundation of a building: Just as the foundation protects the structural integrity of a building, so too, the effective process in any negotiation protects the integrity of the negotiation structure. A constructive strategy that has procedural integrity, will build sustaining and enduring relationships as we negotiate, while at the same time, produce optimal and value-generating outcomes.

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