Add Your PerspectiveJune 26, 2009

UDR: An Introduction to Unconventional Dispute Resolution

As I have said before, if you really want to cut your litigation costs, step one is to have less litigation.  Step two, however, is just as important:  actively manage what’s left.  This post will explore a great way to do both — UDR.

We’re at a point where lawyers who are effective at getting cases settled are often thought to be afraid of trial, yet real trial lawyers often forget that their clients have more important business than litigation.  Which approach will you choose as your next case begins?  With Unconventional Dispute Resolution you can integrate both, so you don’t have to choose either — until the choice is actually yours.

What is UDR?

So what is UDR?  There’s no single element of Unconventional Dispute Resolution that’s truly new, but UDR combines 7 component parts in a way I haven’t seen before.  These elements — each of which is critical to the success of the whole — include:

1. Early Case Assessment
2. Aligned Fee Agreements More…

Categories: ADR, ECA, Miscellaneous, Settlement

3 PerspectivesJanuary 2, 2009

How Close Are We? Another Way a Mediator Can Help

Have you ever wanted to know what the other side really wants in a case?  They’re sure to posture and ask for one thing, but have you ever wondered what they’re really looking for before everyone gets further entrenched?  There is a way to find out.

I learned how you can tell if you and the other side are really that far apart in a dispute with one of the world’s more experienced defendants. We had met before and a lot of money was at stake, and sending a settlement demand to these folks would have been pointless — no matter what I demanded it would be too much. I suspected we privately valued the case the same way, but nobody opens a case with his bottom line position. We’d have to litigate for years to More…

Categories: ADR, Arbitration, Miscellaneous, Settlement, Tactics

8 PerspectivesDecember 12, 2008

The Mediator’s Proposal: A Great Tool For Yesterday’s Disputes

It was a hot Friday afternoon in Miami, and everyone but the mediator had a flight to catch. The lawyers on the other side knew what they were doing, but we weren’t closing the gap. Sometimes impasse is a good thing, but not here — four conference rooms and a reception area full of lawyers needed to settle, but our steady path to resolution had stopped abruptly. What was the other side up to?

As our mediation closed, the mediator made a proposal — a “mediator’s proposal.” I knew immediately why we had reached an impasse. As I look back on that settlement it’s clear that, as effective as mediator’s proposals might have been back in the day, they aren’t the tool More…

Categories: ADR, Mediation, Settlement

Add Your PerspectiveOctober 17, 2008

How Do You Settle Halfway? Settlement Structures Part II

In You Can Win by Settling Halfway:  Settlement Structures Part I, we discussed when it might pay to settle halfway — when you might resolve parts of a dispute to “streamline the matter, limit expenses, and refocus the parties on resolving what’s left.”  While Part I outlined several high-level examples of how it works in theory, here’s a successful example to demonstrate how settling halfway can work for you.

What’s Really in Dispute?

I got called into a dispute between my client at the time and a recently departed executive.  The former executive disagreed with the compensation he was paid as he left.  Like many claims involving former execs, the stakes were high, and the emotions ran higher.  Both sides wanted to prove that they were right, and the case would not settle.  Once I really understood each side’s position — on the facts and in the broader context — an opportunity to settle halfway began to emerge. More…

Categories: ADR, Arbitration, Settlement, Strategy, Structures