Tag Archives: lawyering

Lawyers Are From Mars, Clients Are From Venus – and Mediators Can Help Communicate in Space

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I just wrote this post on the Kluwer Mediation Blog on this subject.  It summarizes empirical research showing the huge chasm in perspectives between many lawyers and their clients.  Lawyers often focus only on monetary issues in legal disputes, which drives many of their clients crazy because they are also very concerned about a wide … Continue reading Lawyers Are From Mars, Clients Are From Venus – and Mediators Can Help Communicate in Space →

Appreciation of Doug Frenkel and Jim Stark

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Jim Stark and Doug Frenkel just became scholars-in-residence with the International Academy of Mediators, following in the footsteps of Hal Abramson, Lela Love, and Dwight Golann. I have appreciated Doug and Jim’s work – actually of all the SiRs – and this post describes some of the things I appreciate about it.  It also includes … Continue reading Appreciation of Doug Frenkel and Jim Stark →

LIRA Videos Out the Wazoo!!

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Everyone knows that lawyers should carefully assess their cases at the earliest appropriate time.  In cases that are or might be litigated, lawyers often focus primarily or exclusively on estimating the expected court outcome (aka the BATNA value). The LIRA book provides guidance for more thorough and systematic case assessments, including values for tangible costs … Continue reading LIRA Videos Out the Wazoo!! →

Concepts That Can Help Practitioners Help Parties Make Decisions in Disputes

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The good folks at the Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York and CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College invited me to give a talk as part of their monthly breakfast series.  Last week, I gave a presentation, Helping Parties Make Decisions About What’s Really Important, which synthesizes ideas I have been … Continue reading Concepts That Can Help Practitioners Help Parties Make Decisions in Disputes →

A Message for Law Students to Prepare Themselves for Legal Practice

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Reflecting on my They Should Call it Negotiation School and Law School Failures posts, I wrote the following message, which you may want to share with your students.  Although they may be too busy to follow up on this now, you can plant a seed for them to pursue this during the winter break. ___________________________________________________________________ … Continue reading A Message for Law Students to Prepare Themselves for Legal Practice →

You Really Should Know About Kris Franklin

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Kris Franklin is a kindred spirit to folks in our community.  I hadn’t heard of her until I was wowed by her conversation with Peter Philips, which you can see in this 42-minute video. She’s a professor at New York Law School and here’s an excerpt from her webpage: An academic innovator, Kris Franklin brings … Continue reading You Really Should Know About Kris Franklin →

Study Finds That Law Schools Fail to Prepare Students to Work with Clients and Negotiate

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I previously posted an overview of the excellent report by Ohio State Professor Deborah Jones Merritt and Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System Research Director Logan Cornett, Building a Better Bar: The Twelve Building Blocks of Minimum Competence.  This report is based on insights from 50 focus groups with 201 participants conducted … Continue reading Study Finds That Law Schools Fail to Prepare Students to Work with Clients and Negotiate →

Important New Report on Essential Lawyering Skills

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Ohio State Professor Deborah Jones Merritt and Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System Research Director Logan Cornett just published an important report, Building a Better Bar: The Twelve Building Blocks of Minimum Competence, based on insights from 50 focus groups. They found that minimum competence consists of 12 interlocking “building blocks,” including … Continue reading Important New Report on Essential Lawyering Skills →

Gadzooks!  Even More LIRA Videos!  And Coming Attractions!

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I continue to produce videos related to the LIRA book, which you might be interested in, possibly for use in courses.  As I produce more videos, I add them to the full collection in this post, which you might want to bookmark. Here are the latest videos: Mediating with LIRA.  Mediate.com University.  $49.  August 2020.  … Continue reading Gadzooks!  Even More LIRA Videos!  And Coming Attractions! →

Jeff Trueman’s Study on Nightmares of “Positional” Tactics in Mediation

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Jeff Trueman, an experienced Maryland mediator and Pepperdine LLM candidate, wrote an excellent article about the challenges of lawyers, mediators, and insurance claims professionals in mediation. He interviewed subjects about their problems in mediation, and his study provided evidence of professionals behaving badly, very consistent with my post about BATNAs and the emotional pains of … Continue reading Jeff Trueman’s Study on Nightmares of “Positional” Tactics in Mediation →

BATNA May Be Less Important Than You Think – and Teach

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Everyone loves BATNA.  It has more than 16 million hits on Google. I have loved BATNA too.  Of course, people should consider alternatives to a negotiated agreement when negotiating or mediating. Unfortunately, people have loved BATNA so much that it has become a cliché that is widely misunderstood, even by some dispute resolution experts. When … Continue reading BATNA May Be Less Important Than You Think – and Teach →

LIRA Book Tour

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My career has focused on helping disputants by analyzing and promoting helpful lawyering and other dispute resolution techniques.  The ABA book, Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions, is the culmination of my scholarly career, combining Michaela’s and Heather’s excellent research on litigation risk assessment and my work on planned … Continue reading LIRA Book Tour →