4 PerspectivesJanuary 30, 2009

One Tire Too Many: An Unexpected Lesson in Trust

The story might be better if I could make it more dramatic, but tires aren’t all that exciting. My car had turned 5 and rolled past 45,000 miles, and there was little debate — I needed new ones. I braced myself for an expensive day, pulled into Sewell Lexus, and asked for four new tires. My unexpected lesson in trust came when my service rep suggested that wasn’t really what I needed.

One Tire Too Many

As you might imagine, I wasn’t in the mood to reconsider my need for tires, and my request hadn’t been ambiguous. But my longtime service advisor pushed, and I listened with patient annoyance. She explained that she’d be happy to sell More…

Categories: Communication,Education,Negotiation,Theory

1 PerspectiveJanuary 29, 2009

Settlement Perspectives: The Newsletter

A Brief FYI for Readers Seeing this as a Post Online:

This is the first in a series of monthly(ish) newsletters to be sent by email to those who have signed up for Settlement Perspectives’ occasional newsletter. If you wish to receive future newsletters by email, please feel free to sign up in the space provided on the right or send me an email and I’ll put you on the list. Future newsletters will be posted here only occasionally. Thanks–

JD

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Dear Newsletter Reader–

Welcome to the first issue of Settlement Perspectives’ monthly(ish) newsletter, designed to explore even further what we usually discuss — thoughts on how to resolve disputes and get your deal done.

A natural question to ask before we publish the first newsletter is whether More…

Categories: Blogging,Miscellaneous,Newsletters

2 PerspectivesJanuary 21, 2009

Why Should You Try a Decision Tree in Your Next Dispute?

We recently explored what decision trees are and how to create them in Decision Tree Analysis: The Basics. While it’s important to revisit the basics on occasion, it seems the biggest hurdle for decision trees isn’t teaching people that this tool is out there — it’s convincing mediators, lawyers and their clients to actually try them in the first place. Why should you?

From the client’s perspective there are two good reasons to use decision trees: better decisions and happier clients.

Do we take the case to trial, do we settle it, or do we do something in between? And what makes you think so? Clients have always looked to their lawyers for More…

Categories: Communication,Decision Trees,Miscellaneous,Settlement

16 PerspectivesJanuary 4, 2009

Decision Tree Analysis in Litigation: The Basics

A sample Decision Tree, available in .pdf format here.

I remember my first mediation decision tree. It was late in the day, just before impasse, and our mediator was desperate to show my client and me that we had misvalued the case.  As he sketched it for us the approach made sense, but that was no time to pick up a new technique.  His effort ended no different than most attempts to learn about decision trees on the fly — with a confused client, a frustrated mediator and a lawyer about to change the subject.

Fifteen years later I know the value of a decision tree and, just as important, how to really use one — in connection with settlement discussions and as a part of an Early Case Assessment before settlement talks begin. Admittedly they take a little effort and some practice, but whether you’re a lawyer or a mediator or their client, you’ll see one soon. Knowing what a decision tree is and how to diagram yours More…

Categories: Decision Trees,Fundamentals,Mediation,Negotiation,Settlement