Efficiency and productivity are paramount to me.
I won't waste your time giving lectures or telling war stories, and my introductory comments last no more than five minutes. My approach to mediation follows an "issues - evidence - argument" progression to assist parties and counsel in arriving at logical, well-reasoned decisions about their positions. By drawing on real-world considerations, and years of litigation and settlement experience, I always seek to evoke changes in position rather than compel them.
I emphasize a common-sense approach that carefully examines the potential and probable costs, risks, and rewards of continued litigation. Other than the obvious time and money-saving aspects of a mediated resolution, I encourage the parties and counsel to consider many "intangible" settlement factors that are ignored in the litigation process.
Such factors include:
The opportunity to directly address and reason with an opposing party;
The time value of a case settled today;
Avoidance of adverse publicity; and personal embarrassment;
Avoidance of post-judgment collections procedures and delays;
The ability to structure time payments, or alternative forms of payment;
Maintaining the confidentiality of evidentiary items and settlement terms;
Establishing a settlement range that can narrowly focus future negotiations;
An end to the personal, mental, and emotional drain of continued litigation.
