Add Your PerspectiveFebruary 26, 2010

Settlement Perspectives Welcomes Gary Kitchen to A New Role at the Patent Mediation Table

As we go through our careers we all keep a list, whether it’s formal or not — a list of people we’d like to work with again someday. It might be hard work or honesty or an ability to turn an argument, but something puts lawyers on that list. For me, Gary Kitchen is one of those lawyers, so I couldn’t have been more happy to see the recent announcement about his new nationwide patent mediation practice.

This post is a quick welcome to Gary Kitchen to the mediation world — not unlike what Vickie Pynchon and Diane Levin did for me when Settlement Perspectives got its start.

A Patent Mediator with Business Experience

As you can imagine from the title of this blog, on any deal I’m curious about the perspectives of those involved, and Gary’s is tailor-made for patent mediation on a national level. I’ll skip the “former Fortune 50 business executive” blurb from his bio and give you a snippet from a story he told More…

Categories: Mediation, Miscellaneous

2 PerspectivesFebruary 16, 2010

In Mediation, Who Gets To Say “We’re Done”?

It’s been almost 20 years since my first mediation, and I still remember the rehearsed opening sessions from those days. Mediation after mediation began at 9:35 with a map of the day from the mediator’s manual:  This is a creative new process; mediation is confidential; today we’ll explore “win-win” approaches to settling your case; there’s a lunch menu on the credenza; don’t leave until I tell you today’s session is over. There were a few more, but you get the point.

Since those early days I haven’t given much thought to why the mediator — rather than the parties — gets to end the session. But in a recent mediation headed for impasse the lawyer on the other side almost ended the day with “I guess there’s no reason to keep talking, is there?” in a late afternoon joint session, and I understood.

Who Will Be the First to Send a Message?

Mediation is admittedly a bit awkward, if not unnatural. For its success the process requires parties and their paid advocates to stop fighting long enough to work toward a compromise acceptable to all. A series of concessions, conditioned on reaching a settlement, ends in a deal or a return to conflict.

If settlement can’t be reached, most parties and advocates immediately look for a way to turn up the heat on the other side — to send a message reinforcing the consequences of not settling. While I have said before that a “failed” mediation is a perfect time to settle halfway, the traditional response is to remind everyone that More…

Categories: Mediation, Negotiation, Tactics

Add Your PerspectiveJanuary 27, 2010

New Information: One Way to Help Your Client Save Face

The mediation had dragged for an entire day, and we hadn’t made much progress. The other side said they couldn’t give any more, and we wouldn’t, either. The mediator’s proposal that followed was the best deal we’d ever get and, frankly, it was the right number. But my client’s COO reacted instantly, calling in a “no” on his way home. Our answer was due to the mediator in in 24 hours.

As I prepared to discuss the mediator’s proposal with our executive team and the COO the next day I realized my client might have painted himself into a corner — after a good night’s sleep I was confident he would want to change his mind, but sometimes it’s not that easy.

Only Two Ways to Get the Case Settled

I debated how to settle the case that day, and there were only two ways to get it done: with my COO or without him. I could gather the facts and work to More…

Categories: Communication, Mediation, Negotiation, Settlement, Tactics

3 PerspectivesJanuary 6, 2010

Zen Unicorn: 4 Mediator Marketing Lessons from Seth Godin

Marketing guru Seth Godin isn’t a mediator and, as far as I know, doesn’t even know what one is, but that doesn’t seem to matter.  From my perspective — the perspective of one who often selects the mediator — the marketing lessons in Zen Unicorn are tailor-made for mediators and settlement professionals.

Godin has written more than a few books already, but his recent Zen Unicorn is a great idea.  It simply rolls up some of the best posts from his blog over the past 3 years and presents them in a click-free, Kindle-only ebook.  Four of those posts, and why they’re relevant to mediators, include:

Make something happen

“The best time to plant an oak tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is now.” I don’t know who said it, but it certainly applies to marketing.  In Make something happen Godin tells us to More…

Categories: Blogging, Communication, Mediation, Miscellaneous