Oct 2021
Revisiting Game Theory and Mediation
Aug 2021
Dear 1L: Five Guideposts for Your Future Professional Practice by Lela P. Love, Thomas Stipanowich
April 2021
Show Warmth and Competence over Zoom
Zoom as Pre Mediation Tool Even If the Settlement Negotiations Are Live
Feb 2021
Learn about AAA-ICDR Concurrent Mediation clauses
Jan 2021
Aug 2020
July 2020
The Problems With Predicting Court Outcomes In Settlement Negotiations
The Problem With “Bottom Lines” And BATNAs In The Settlement Process
April 2020
Feb 2020
Lawyer Error In Predicting Litigated Outcomes
Decision Trees and How to Use them for Guided Choice Resolutions
Guided Choice Mediation Endorsed by IMIS Global Pounds North American Report. Note that this one had a correction which can be seen here.
Dec 2019
The Psychology of Dispute Resolution
Oct 2019
Clients Do Not See The Traditional Litigation Systems as Serving Their Needs for Legal Services
How Specialized Mediators Should be of Value to Stakeholders
Sept 2019
Guided Choice Mediation a Better Way to Settle Disputes
June 2019
How Guiding Mediators Can Help You Get Earlier Settlements and Reduce Legal Expense
June 2018
Updates on Guided Choice including upcoming live/recorded webinar
1. As a result of the worldwide Global Pound Conference, the International Mediation Institute has established a Task Force to implement Guided Choice as a method to satisfy user needs for efficient and early dispute resolution. See www.globalpound.org for a collection of various materials supporting the need for change in the legal industry,
2. Most of the focus on early dispute resolution has been using mediation in court systems. Recent studies have shown that less than 10% of cases in Federal District Courts are tried. AAA reports that the settlement rate before awards is around 66% in commercial arbitration. A recent AAA rule change encourages mediation to exist in parallel with an active arbitration. The College of Commercial Arbitrators is encouraging arbitrators to help get arbitrations settled as early as possible, but without the mediators impairing their neutrality or becoming evaluative mediators. This is a hot topic for those active in the Guided Choice movement.
3. Our Guided Choice materials have tended to be aimed at mediators convincing lawyers on the importance of the early hire of mediators. We are now directing our efforts also to well-respected litigators who see the value to clients of their ability to get earlier dispute resolutions. These lawyers are working with mediators to use Guided Choice to get earlier resolutions.
I am doing a Lorman webinar with a successful construction industry lawyer. It is live on June 18, 2018, at 12 pm CDT. If this is not convenient, the program will be recorded for later use. I have secured a 50% discount for your use. This is a “how to do it” session based on real experiences in using a mediator in both litigation and arbitration. In particular, we will focus on overcoming resistance to the early hire of mediators.
Construction Early Dispute Resolution Fundamentals Webinar
June 18, 2018
12:00PM CDT – 1:30PM CDT
Please see the attached marketing publication below for more details:
Register online: http://www.lorman.com/402944?discount_code=V6679906&p=15999
Call: 866-352-9539
Discount code: V6679906
Priority code: 15999
4. Guided Choice continues to be the subject of articles in major programs of the ABA, professional legal groups, and local bar associations. Our authors are continually writing for major journals and publications. Please let me know if you have groups that you would like to present to. We will furnish you assistance on a pro bono basis.
April 2017
New Developments in Guided Choice Mediation
We are pleased to report that interest in Guided Choice as a means to achieve the earliest settlement continues its momentum. We also have created strategies for dealing with the frequently asked questions concerning preventing and overcoming impasse. We also address the issue of how get mediators hired by people who object to mediation because “they are not ready” to mediate. This usually means they are not ready to negotiate a settlement.
Guided Choice Momentum
Since our 2016 Guided Choice website launch we have had over 3000 viewers and 1,000 visitors. While predominantly from the U.S. these people also represent many foreign countries.
In the past 12 months, Paul Lurie made presentations on Guided Choice to the American Bar Association, Section of Litigation Roundtable, the ABA Arbitration Institute, Cook County Mandatory Mediation and Arbitration Clinic, The American Society of Civil Engineers, Construction Summit, the American College of Construction Lawyers, ADR Committee, The Minnesota State Bar Association, Construction Committee, and the Cleveland Bar Association, ADR Committee. On April 7, 2017 Laura Kaster and I conducted a webinar for the ABA DR Section. Women in Dispute Resolution. We emphasized the marketing advantages of promoting early dispute resolution using Guided Choice. The April 2017 issue of the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Magazine has an article by Judith Meyer and Ty Holt comparing Guided Choice Mediation with other forms of Mixed Mode dispute resolution.
Tom Stipanowich, a world renowned scholar in dispute resolution and a Professor at Pepperdine University Law School was an early supporter of Guided Choice. His latest law review article is filled with references to Guided Choice as part of discussion of the various forms of mixed mode ADR. It can be found at this link or on our Guided Choice website Resources page. “The International Task Force on Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution: Exploring the Interplay between Mediation, Evaluation and Arbitration in Commercial Cases,” Fordham International Law Journal, Forthcoming; Pepperdine University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2017/4.
Importance of the 40 World Wide Global Pound Conferences to Guided Choice
Many of you are aware of the Global Pound Conferences (GPC) being held in 40 major world cities (www.globalpoundconference.org). Jeremy Lack, the Coordinator of the GPCs, is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Jeremy has been Paul Lurie’s co-author on major journal articles on Guided Choice which are included on the Resources page of our website. These conferences are not seminars. Rather than are gatherings of major users and people involved in mediation to determine what kind of dispute resolution processes users want. While the final conference is not until June 2017, in London, the data from the conferences so far indicates large support for processes like Guided Choice which are aimed at earlier and less expensive settlements.
Strategies for Addressing Frequently Asked Questions
Please read the links below which are linked to this newsletter. They addresses strategies for overcoming two issues raised by Frequently Asked Questions.
(1) Overcoming impasse using Guided Choice What If Scenario Planning; See FAQ 17 in the linked document; and
(2) Using the Guided Choice simple one page agreement linked as an attachment to Agreement to Retain Mediator for Limited Services. This agreement enables the early hiring of the mediator by people who may be willing to use a mediator to help with information exchange and for process recommendations but who are not ready to begin settlement negotiations.
Paul M. Lurie
Editor and Chair of the Guided Choice Mediation Interest Group
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