Do we need an APB for Geoff Sharp…?

Do we need to file a missing persons report on Geoff Sharp? I know that it is summer time down there, but did any of you think his end of the year break would be a month long?

New ADR Blog – The HealthCare Neutral ADR Blog

Following Vickie Pynchon’s lead, I’d like to welcome Mr. Richard Webb of The HealthCare Neutral ADR Blog to our merry band of ADR Bloggers. Mr. Webb writes that he will “blog at the intersection of ADR and healthcare law.” In the 10 days or so of his nascent blog, Mr. Webb has already posted quite a bit of useful information, including a series of posts entitled “Why ADR Works in Healthcare.”

Welcome and best of luck!

Hello to the Participants in the 40 Sites in 60 Minutes Online Tour

Hello all. I hope you enjoy my site. I must, however, apologize for having puff pieces on the site lately. I try to have a mix of topical and humorous content. I’ve been very occupied with marketing this week and haven’t had the time to sit down and write anything meaningful.

New ADR/Mediation Blog

Yesterday, Diane Levin of Online Guide to Mediation introduced us to a new ADR/Mediation/Arbitration blog written by four law professors, Indisputedly. It looks like it will be an interesting resource and provide perspective from the Ivory Tower.

Wisdom beyond her years.

I spent some of yesterday afternoon surfing. Partially looking for opportunities to spread my wings as a mediator, build a solid base of experience and raise my profile, and partially looking at what others who have come before me have done. Along the way, I rediscovered better than misery and realized I had been remiss in both visiting this excellent resource and adding it to my blogroll. With this post, I remedy at least one of these errors.

Eliesheva has a gift and often displays a wisdom beyond her* (apparent) years. Finding myself sitting around wondering whether I had done the right thing by embarking on this new career, I found this post especially poignant.

*my deepest apologies for the gender confusion.  I saw Elie and thought Elie Wiesel.

A new “old” mediation blog?

Cruising around the interwebs today, I stumbled upon Perspectives from a Mediator/Arbitrator, written by Canadian ADR professional Stephen Raymond. It looks like he’s been offline for a while, but has recently posted that he plans to get back in the saddle. He has some interesting tips about cross-examination during an arbitration.

Can you really say no to new opportunities?

In a recent post, Tammy Lenski suggests that “[t]here’s a lot of wisdom in saying no” to a offer of engagement that is new and different from anything you have done before and is a “stretch” for your skill level and experience. She cites a blog entry from Marketing Mix discussing the same issue.

After reading both Ms. Lenski’s bio and that of the authors of Marketing Mix, I wonder how much of this viewpoint is based on life-experience and professional training. Neither is an attorney. At the beginning of your legal career, (and I would posit just about any professional career), just about every assignment offered to you is a “stretch” for your skill level and experience. Freshly minted lawyers, no matter what silk stocking law school they attended, are ill-prepared for just about every assignment given to them save for fetching coffee. But large law firms routinely have young attorneys assume tasks far beyond their experience level.

Within weeks of my first “real” law firm job, I was sent off to try a case. Alone. Granted, it was Magistrate’s Court (claims under $15,000), but I was still responsible for protecting the client’s rights and seeing to it that he prevailed. I had friends from law school who entered District Attorney’s offices and were sent off to try criminal cases within their first week on the job. Some enterprising young lawyers even went into practice for themselves. Straight out of law school.

And it isn’t limited to your first years of practice. While you may eventually get to a level of comfort about certain subject matter, or in front of a jury or appellate panel, you really cannot become truly good at what you do unless you stretch yourself. One of my most fulfilling assignments in my 11 years of practicing law was working with a large insurer overseeing claims for over $120 million dollars of property damage relating to Hurricane Ivan. Before that assignment, I had no experience working with this particular client (who was quite unique in culture), nor with the insurance coverage issues involved. When it was offered to me, I simply said, “yes, I’ll do it.” I made a few mistakes along the way, but in the end, I learned a lot.

I fully appreciate the caveat that doing a poor job at something at which you are inexperienced can hurt your reputation, but undertaking jobs outside your comfort/skill/experience level is how you learn, grow, and gain experience. I can think of a dozen cliches and proverbs to illustrate this principle. My favorite is an Italian proverb, “Chi non risica non rosica” – loosely translated as “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Since the cat’s out of the bag – 40 Mediation Sites in 40 Minutes

It looks like the super cyber sleuths Vickie Pynchon and Stephanie West Allen have outed Geoff Sharp’s high-tech online presentation about mediation resources on the web, 40 Sites in 40 Minutes.

I’m featured on the list! It’s flattering that my fledging blog is receiving attention from one of the pioneers of mediation related blogging. I guess I should post less about the Pants Judge and more about mediation now.

Thanks, Geoff.

Is there a place for “spirituality” in mediation?

Over the weekend, while I was drinking beer, grilling burgers and watching football (both kinds!), Geoff Sharp started an interesting dialogue on the role of “spirituality” in mediation. In his first post, he commented upon a recent article discussing the roots of cooperation in game theory, ending with the question, “What does spirituality have to do with mediation or conflict resolution?”

This prompted some interesting comments which Geoff decided to republish in a post of their own.

If you haven’t already visited Geoff’s site, I encourage you to join the debate.

Click on the “Read On” link below to read my comment in its entirety.

How to Deal With the EVIL Partner and Other Advice for First Years

Vickie Pynchon’s Settle it Now blog has an excellent post for young lawyers on how to deal with the EVIL PARTNER who will give you ridiculous research projects asking you to support untenable positions. Please read it and heed her words. Sage advice.