Add Your PerspectiveNovember 25, 2013

Settlement the Way Your Clients Want It — The Presentation

It’s hard to imagine a better audience than the Dallas Bar Association’s Bench Bar Conference to discuss litigation, settlement, and new ways to look at both.  I recently got the chance to do just that, and the talk — and the debate that followed — were even better than I had imagined.

Clients often have a different perspective on settlement than their lawyers, and we had fun exploring why.

No, we didn’t start with stories about settlement.  We began with the Zig Ziglar’s take on how a newlywed couple cooked their fist roast — and we decided that just because we’ve been settling cases one way for the last 30 years doesn’t mean we need to settle cases the same way tomorrow.

I won’t repeat the whole talk here, but a few highlights include:

• The quote from one of my old clients that first put it all into perspective for me:  “I’m not in the litigation business.  I’m in the business business.”
• Why — and how — clients are different from the lawyers they work with; More…

Categories: ADR,Mediation,Negotiation,Settlement

Add Your PerspectiveApril 4, 2013

Settlement Counsel: 10 Free Internet Resources

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the Settlement Counsel concept — I’ve written about it, I’ve published an Updated List of Settlement Counsel, and I’m speaking about the idea in practice with Gary McGowan and Christopher Nolland today at the 15th Annual Section of Dispute Resolution’s Spring Conference.

For lawyers and clients wanting to learn more, a quick Internet search for “Settlement Counsel” doesn’t easily lead to the most informative — and free — resources, so I pulled together a list of links to where you might want to start.  Naturally, if you think I missed a good one, please let me know.

Settlement Counsel Hyperlinks

• Kathy A. Bryan, When ‘Winning’ Is the Expensive Solution, LEGAL TIMES (Apr. 16, 2007).
• Kathy A. Bryan, Why Should Businesses Hire Settlement Counsel?, 2008 J. DISP. RESOL. 195.
• John DeGroote, Who Serves as Settlement Counsel?  The (Updated) List, SETTLEMENT PERSPECTIVES L. BLOG (June 11, 2012).
• John DeGroote, Why Settlement Counsel? A Lesson from the Scorpion and the Frog, SETTLEMENT PERSPECTIVES L. BLOG (May 29, 2012).
• John Lande, The Movement Toward Early Case Handling in Courts and Private Dispute Resolution , 24 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 83, 115-20 (2008).
• James E. McGuire, Why Litigators Should Use Settlement Counsel, 18 ALTERNATIVES TO HIGH COST LITIG. 6 (June 2000).*
• Gary Mendelsohn, Lawyers as Negotiators, 1 HARV. NEGOT. L. REV. 139, 139-67 (1996). More…

Categories: ADR,Negotiation,Settlement,Settlement Counsel

1 PerspectiveFebruary 23, 2013

Something Bigger: Gene Roberts’s Remarks at the 2013 TAM Annual Conference

As a longtime participant in the mediation process my primary focus has been its impact on my clients’ litigation — it’s one way cases get resolved, which saves us all money, time, risk, and more.  But yesterday I got another perspective on mediation, and I was reminded that it is, truly, Something Bigger.  My perspective came from Gene Roberts at North Texas Negotiations who, along with Adam McGough, chairs this year’s Annual Conference for the Texas Association of Mediators.

Gene’s remarks begin with the traditional perspective of a conference chair, but the message he gets to is unmistakable:

The conference is run by volunteers. There’s no paid staff. We’ve done our best and we ask for your indulgence if something unexpected happens. It’s not for want of planning More…

Categories: ADR,Mediation,Miscellaneous,Negotiation

1 PerspectiveAugust 2, 2012

Effective Litigation Management: The TexasBarCLE Presentation

Tomorrow I’ll be joining my longtime friends Frank Vecella and Robert Manley to present “Effective Litigation Management: Doing a Good Job at ‘Herding Cats’” at the TexasBarCLE’s 11th Annual Advanced In-House Counsel Course.  This project has been fun, productive, and educational so far, and we’re looking forward to Friday.

Hyperlinks to the PowerPoint and the Paper

The slides we plan to present, and the paper that accompanies the presentation, are available in the following formats using the following hyperlinks:

• The Paper, in .pdf format, can be accessed using this link.
• The Presentation, in PowerPoint format, can be accessed using this link.

Take a look at the presentation — you’ll be glad you did.

Categories: ADR,Decision Trees,ECA,Mediation,Negotiation,Resolution Tree,Settlement,Tactics