The Return of the Blog.

Having recently been cited as one of Mediation Blogging Maven Diane Levin’s “24 Blogs to Follow“, I guess I owe it to any new readers to produce some new material.

I am caught at a loss, because I wasn’t really planning on doing that, and haven’t seen anything come across the various news/blog/web sources that I read that inspired me to write.  And I certainly could not write about the very difficult, emotionally draining mediation I had yesterday.

I will be thinking about a topic or two and try to put something up later today or tomorrow.

Thank you again to Diane for the recognition and I hope to have some new material soon.

C

What brought you here . . . and will there be a blog for you to read anymore?

Every now and again, Popehat (one of my favorite blogs) examines the “Road to Popehat“, that is, the search queries that bring random guests to their blog.  Of course, I have far fewer readers than the Ken, Patrick and Ezra, but I thought I’d do the same thing.

It’s an odd assortment of phrases that you might expect would bring one to a (quasi) mediation themed blog:  my name, “arbitration”, “mediation”, “what does a mediator do”, “ridiculous lawsuits” (even though others have that well covered).  Some are odd, but related to some key words in stories on which I commented, like “tricked out Mustang GT,” or “cheetah chasing gazelle“.

But one recent query really jumped out:

“how to screw spouse in mediation”

Of course, I had to run the search myself to see what would bring such a despicable person to my blog, because I am 100% certain I have never written an article about how to “screw” anybody.  Turns out that Google search picked out keywords from my recent re-post  “How to Screw Up A Mediation.“  Phew.

One thing I did notice, though is that my most recent search queries are long on queries regarding my more humorous posts and short on anything substantive. I need to do some serious thinking about whether a) I need to spend some time ruminating and writing about mediation again or b) scrap the whole blog, as I have seen absolutely no real benefit to my practice, which was the real purpose of the blog (well, secondary to my own narcissism).  I should be focusing on more face-to-face marketing efforts.  I think “Web 2.0″ (especially twitter – which is a real time bandit) rarely bears fruit.

I’m leaning toward scrapping the blog and leaving it to the professionals like Diane, Vickie, Geoff, Nancy, etc.

We’ll see.

Please support me in this charitable cause!

I know I’ve been offline for a while, but I’ve been quite busy.  Some work, some travel.

I am hoping that my friends and colleagues will support me in a charitable event this weekend – May 17, 2009.  I am cycling in the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure fund-raising event with my friend Mike, who has diabetes.

I apologize for the late notice, but I thought I would be out of town this weekend.  When plans changed, I decided to support my good friend, Mike.

The Tour de Cure is a series of cycling events held in over 80 cities nationwide. I have joined thousands of others to pedal in support of the Association’s mission: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

Mike, Jeff and I will be cycling the “metric century” -a 62 mile route through rolling hills southwest of Atlanta.

I am asking you to help by supporting my fund-raising efforts with a donation. Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in the lives of more than 23 million Americans who suffer from diabetes and over 57 million people in the United States with pre-diabetes.

It’s fast and easy to support this great cause – you can make your donation online by selecting the “Click to Support Me” link below.

Any amount, great or small, helps in the fight against this deadly disease. I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration,

Chris

For more information on Tour de Cure, please visit www.diabetes.org/tour.

Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC218008030?px=4766360&pg=personal&fr_id=5592&et=5gg6lJwbi5HY6_UCQXelIQ..&s_tafId=219222

Live blogging jury duty.

As some of you may know, I was called for jury duty. I will try to document this wonderful experience as it happens.

So far already today, we were informed that we could donate our jury stipend to the “liberry”, so it’s off to a bang up start.

I’m now waiting with 49 other potential jurors for a criminal trial-my worst nightmare. I was certain that no civil lawyer would want another litigator on the panel, but I’m not so sure about a criminal jury.

10:03- I’m juror #7. Maybe that’s lucky. I should have worn my Jedi robes and brought my light saber.

10:25- Still standing in line in a hallway. I know you are riveted to my every word.

12:45 – I may be screwed. I’m still on a panel of potential jurors for a 2-4 week criminal matter. And I think that’s about all I can say on the matter.

An uphill battle against the stigma of being “court-appointed.”

I recently received a call from an attorney scheduled for a court-referred mediation:

“Chris, this is Lawyer X.  We’d like to cancel the mediation.  Don’t take this personally, but we’ve decided on another mediator.”

Of course, I took it personally, expressed my disappointment and politely pressed the issue with the lawyer.

What I learned shouldn’t have surprised me.  This lawyer, a sophisticated end-user of mediation, had a bad experience with a court-appointed mediator and did not want to repeat that.   While the specifics of the occurrence were not shared, there was distinct frustration in the lawyer’s voice.

The sad truth is that I understood what this lawyer meant and what I had to do.  If I wanted a shot a keeping the mediation, I had to prove that even though I was  “court-appointed,” I was competent enough to handle the case.

There is an unfortunate perception among many practicing attorneys here in Atlanta that the mediators on the court-appointed lists are simply not up to snuff.   I do not fully share this opinion.  Like any other vocation, there are some very good “court-appointed” mediators and some not-so-good “private/professional” mediators.

I do not think that licensure is the answer.  I just need to be ready for an uphill fight and start marketing a little more heavily to ensure that when an attorney reads my name on a “court-appointed” notice, she recognizes that I am a professional, competent mediator she would like to use.

Well That Was Odd.

I didn’t question the first $40 check .  While I told this particular party I would waive his (already reduced) fee due to his being on Social Security disability, I figured he was trying to make good.

The second $40 check gave me some pause, but I still figured this party was trying to pay what was owed.

The third check threw me because the three checks totaled more than what he would have owed me for my time.

So I dug out the agreement (which I had scanned to send to the Court – I don’t usually keep copies) and realized that the party was supposed to be paying the plaintiff that same amount.   After a few phone calls to both sides, the plaintiff said they hadn’t been paid on the Agreement and I now have to cut the plaintiff a $120 check.  I guess that vacation to the French Riviera is off…

A Little Horn Tooting

I am told I am not enough of a self-promoter, so I thought I’d share a wonderful testimonial email I received today from a recent mediation client.  No, he’s not a relative and I didn’t pay him off!

I am truly very humbled that he took the time to write such wonderful things about me.

Thank you, Jay.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all!!

Been ill.

Apologies for the lack of posts, but I’ve been ill with some sort of head and chest congestion.  I’ve also come down with a bout of lazyitis.*  I’m not much in the mood to read or write about mediation.

I’ve got three more cases scheduled before Christmas, so maybe that will inspire.

*I’ve also finally succumbed to the lure of Facebook, which has consumed a surprisingly inordinate amount of the time I am online.

Thanksgiving Week Thoughts

Another year is rapidly coming to a close. While we’ve seen “Change” (whether we can believe in it or not) and global financial unrest, there are still plenty of things for which to be thankful.  The nightly news seemingly wants you to focus only on the negatives, but during this time of year it is best to look upon the positives. They are there, you just need to know where to look:

• Dell Computer’s revenues are up, as is it’s stock price (and this is only one example of a business doing well).
• Money Magazine believes that recovery is 6-9 months away.  It will be slow, but we will crawl out of this.
• Consumer confidence ratings are up in November.
• Gas prices have returned to a “normal” range of $1.75 to $2.00 per gallon.
• Homes sales saw their biggest gain since 2003.
• Causalities in the Iraq conflict have been decreasing over the past few months.

If you can’t find positive national or local news stories, then look closer to home – your family, your health, your job.  I’m sure you could find something of which to be proud and for which to be thankful.

I’m no Pollyanna.  In fact, I’m a cynical bastard.  I know it is tough out there.  But Thanksgiving allows us to stop, take a breath, and try to focus on the good in our lives.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.