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Mediation is the search for Win-Win. Litigation is the search for defeating your opponent. But does mediation always work? In my experience, there are certain factors that make success for the mediation perilous. These factors include the following: *If there is active enmity between the the parties, mediation may not be doomed to failure. If […]
September 5, 2020
The Program on Negotiation of Harvard University had a discussion on Win-Win at https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/win-win-daily/what-is-a-win-win-negotiation? (August 22,2020). Win-Win is a concept that states that two parties, with seemingly different goals, could get to a point where they “won” on the points most important to them. The following example serves to bring this point home: “3. Different […]
August 17, 2020
Alex Thompson is the Political National Reporter for Politico.com. On August 14, 2020, he wrote a piece discussing the relationship between President Obama and his VP, Joseph Biden. (“The President Was Not Encouraging: What Obama Really thought About Biden”)Clearly the two men had different styles and personalities. Some of the insights found in the article […]
August 15, 2020
More/Less money is not always the key to a resolution of disputes. A party e.g. in a labor dispute may not be as interested in money as they are in other factors. What might these incentives be? The following list is a sampling of possible non-monetary aids in resolving a labor dispute: 1. A written […]
July 19, 2020
Historian Douglas Brinkley on the life of the late Rep. John Lewis: “He believed in the power of love, not the power of hate.” For those brave enough to try to mediate disputes with their “opponents”, they may be so fortunate so as to internalize this truism; the nullity of the power of hate. Mediate […]
July 12, 2020
It is often said by those in the mental health field that we can be far healthier once we realize that we can’t control external events. We can only control how we react to them. A recent article was written for mediate.com by mediator and author, Cinnie Noble. The July article begins by citing the […]
June 28, 2020
An article penned by the Harvard Program on Negotiation (found at https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/international-negotiation-daily/international-negotiations-and-conflict-tony-blairs-10-principles-for-dispute-resolution-negotiations/) discusses the negotiation style of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Of particular note is the following idea: “Because the two sides in a lingering dispute have difficulty seeing each other’s pain, conflict resolution is best viewed as a journey rather than an […]
June 21, 2020
Many benefits are listed as “selling points” for mediation. It is fast, it is relatively inexpensive, it is private, etc. However, there are benefits of mediation that go beyond its favorable comparison with standard litigation. It is better to resolve disputes amicably than via confrontation and rancor. Tf you will, mediation is better for the […]
June 14, 2020
A good mediator listens more than he talks. A good party to a dispute knows both how to talk and how to listen. The conversation in a mediation is a prelude to successful resolution of the dispute at hand. On June 13, 2020, Maureen Dowd wrote an op-ed about listening and talking, entitled “An Anti-Trump […]
June 14, 2020
A post by Hadassah Fidler appeared at mediate.com (June 12, 2020)on the issue of “Separation in Isolation”. What advice can be given to couples who are contemplating divorce while simultaneously isolating under one roof, due to COVID-19? An Israeli psychologist, Dr. Yossi Shafer suggests that the couple focus on survival and not dwell on long-range […]
September 6, 2020
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