Lessons from a Mediation Road Warrior

I had the opportunity to speak this week with the regional settlement counsel for a large publicly traded retailer. He asked that I not mention his name or his company, so I will refer to him as Mr. Smith. It is Mr. Smith’s job to act as the corporate representative in the early stages of litigation against his company. His company takes an economic approach towards risk and litigation management, preferring to settle claims; therefore, part of his job is to persuade the claimants to participate in mediation. As such, he attends over 100 mediations per year and has a lot to say about the mediation process, the role of the mediator, preparation for a mediation and negotiation tactics. Some of this may be old hat to the more experienced, but I thought it might be useful to share some of his insights.