Happy Trails, Geoff.

I seriously doubt that any of you who read my blog do not read Geoff’s.  But in case you don’t, Kiwi Mediator and blogger extraordinaire Geoff Sharp is stepping down from his mediation blog, mediator blah…blah.

Geoff’s blog was one of the first I found as I was researching whether and how to dive into the mediation blogosphere.  I will definitely miss his informative, yet very entertaining, self-deprecating style.

Quite ironically, he was the first to try to talk me out of quitting blogging back in May.

Geoff’s posts will be missed and I wish him the best in whatever new challenges and family matters that are pulling him in different directions.

New Blog – Mediating Certainty

It seems like there is an explosion of new ADR related blogs recently (Zebra Mediator and Enjoy Mediation come to mind).  Over the weekend, John DeGroote informed me about Mediating Certainty, a legal blog published by Keith A. Jones, an attorney and mediator from West Virginia.

I look forward to reading more from these three new blogs.

New Mediation Blog

New York based mediator “Jeff” offers us “Enjoy Mediation.”  I found it over the weekend and will be looking through his posts when I find some time this week.

Exchange Your Bottom Line Blindly?

I’m sure that at one time or another, most mediation advocates have walked into mediations unsure whether the other side was in the same “zip code”, “ballpark” or even “universe”.   Even after a few rounds, even the mediator may be unsure whether that 8 figure demand is bluster or a serious number.

Over at the always interesting and practical Settlement Perspectives,  John DeGroote discusses a creative method of determining whether mediation might be useful in resolving the dispute – the “blind bottom line approach” or as John W. Cooley called it, “blind bidding enhancement.”

In this process, each side agrees to submit to the neutral their bottom line positions.  If the numbers are within an agreed upon range, then the mediation proceeds.   If not, the neutral informs the parties that they are not within range and keeps the numbers confidential.

Initially, I didn’t think that this would work unless the lowest demand was less than the highest offer.  But John explained to me that it is an issue of re-framing.  He believes that even though the plaintiff might say they won’t go below $4million (or $4,000 even), and the defendant says they won’t go higher than $3.5million (or $3500), once the parties realize the gap is small (relative to the total amount at stake), they will proceed with mediation.   This may be the case, but I’ve seen people fight over $10 in a small claims mediation.  Yes.  $10.

I think this can be a great idea for certain types of cases – high end PI cases and employment cases come to mind.  But I am not certain I would want to mediate the case knowing the parties’ bottom line positions.  I generally avoid this knowledge as  I think it can unnecessarily and perhaps unconsciously alter the way I approach the mediation.  Especially as the parties reach that “sweet spot.” But that is a “me” problem.

John has called on the mediation blogosphere to come up with an agreement that would memorialize this type of arrangement.  I’ve got some cases this week, but I promised him I’d put it on my To Do list!

I Made the Cut for Alltop!

In case you haven’t noticed the new “badge” over in the left hand column (likely because you read the RSS feed), my humble blog has been added to the “Law” Category on Alltop, a website that collects “stories from “all the top” sites on the web and aggregates them to a single page. They call this “single-page aggregation.” The founders of Alltop, Will Mayall, Kathryn Henkens, Guy Kawasaki want you to think of Alltop as “a “dashboard,” “table of contents,” or even a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet.”

I’m honored to be listed among the heavyweights of the ADR blog community, such as, Mediation Channel, World Directory of ADR Blogs, Settle It Now Negotiation Blog , Mediator blah…blah…, Conflict Zen, Engaging Conflicts, and Idealawg; as well as some of the best law blogs out there, such as Overlawyered, The WSJ Law Blog, and Above the Law.

Thanks to Alltop for letting us crash the party.

Good News, Bad News…

Some of you may have noticed a precipitous drop in my post rate in the last 6-8 weeks. For those of you who enjoy my ramblings and nuggets of information, it is a good news/bad news situation (for my wife, it is only Good News).

The good news, of course, is that I’ve been getting more cases. I joined the roster of a very active local court circuit consisting of several exurban counties. The courts that comprise the circuit have a combined caseload equal to that of any one of our metro counties. That means more work.

I am also working toward completing my requirements to become registered as a domestic mediator. I have to observe one more case and then co-mediate two others. After that, registration is a mere formality.

I am trying to handle traveling to these cases, mediating more frequently, continuing to market my practice, maintaining enough time to get on the (bike) saddle and ride, and committing time to blog. Unfortunately, blogging is taking a back seat. I am not giving up on blogging by any stretch, but where I was posting 3 and 4 times a week, I now may only post once a week. Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.  I’ll still be as opinionated as always.  Just in smaller, less frequent doses.

Have a great weekend.

Debbie Does Divorce – A Short Video About Divorce Mediation

Reading through my morning news Google Alert, I clicked on the link “Divorce Mediation:Successes and Failures“.  Expecting a typical text blog, I was a little surprised to find a very professional looking video.  I had to chuckle a few times as the presenter has a thick New Yawk accent (I’m from New Jersey and it reminded me of some of my relatives) and referred to herself as the “Chief Executive Girlfriend.”

One you get past the fact that it is not really an episode of the Saturday Night Live Classic skit  “Coffee Talk with Linda Richman”, and is meant to be a helpful resource for those going through a divorce, I found the video a bit short on advice and long on two somewhat interesting but not very helpful war stories from the mediator being interviewed.  Hopefully, the readers of this blog will click through to the mediator expert’s page and read through her much more informative posts, here, here and here.

Welcome “Mediation Meditations” – a blog title surely to confuse search engines everywhere.

Welcome former silk stocking, Wall Street lawyer turned mediator Christian Herzeca to the mediation blogger team. Christian already has some interesting posts. I look forward to reading more of his opinions.

Busy Week – Lazy Post

My apologies for not posting, but it has been a busy week and time flew away from me. So, I’ll pull a lazy man’s trick out of the bag and do a link round-up.

Everyone’s favorite Kiwi posted about Robert Benjamin’s piece Of War and Negotiation and even included a link to a critique of the some of the author’s other work. I found Mr. Benjamin’s concept interesting but his writing too verbose.

Diane Levin may have felt safe after knowing that her Patriots finished off Kristina Haymes’ San Diego Chargers, but the Patsy’s will have to go through my mighty New York Giants to complete the mythic “Perfect Season.”

The National Arbitration Forum blog posted a summary of an article from the Minnesota Lawyer entitled, Nine Tips to Better Negotiation Skills. While I’m typically all for bite sized nuggets of wisdom, the Minnesota Lawyer website requires a subscription to read the original article.

and finally,

Vickie Pynchon scares the hell out of me by discussing Do It Yourself ADR!. If people adopt this type of rational behavior, I may have to find another job.

Enjoy.

Some new (to me and hopefully not you) ADR blogs…

Reading through the names of the bloggers called out in Vickie’s post on licensure, I found a few blogs I had visited before, but had been remiss in adding to my blogroll. So, without ado, here they are:

Schau’s Mediation Insights. – Jan Frankel Schau had taken a few months sabbatical, but is back.

Stephanie West Allen- Idealawg – Stephanie may be my only ally on the licensing issue!

CResearch - A blog for sharing conflict resolution-related research, news, and commentary.

Colin Rule’s Blog – For those of you seeking some light reading on IP, game theory, and law, among other subjects.