Three Can Keep a Secret if Two of Them are Dead: Confidentiality and Ethics in Mediated Negotiations
(photo Money! by David Beyer)
"Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead." Benjamin Franklin
Do you know whether your settlement conference can be considered a mediation?
Do you know whether mediation confidentiality rules will prevent you from enforcing terms of an agreement that have not been included in the deal points hastily scrawled at mediation's end?
Do you know what type of confidentiality protections govern settlement negotiations that are not "mediated"?
Do you know you could be prevented from proving you were fraudulently induced to enter into an agreement if it was negotiated during a mediation?
If your answer to ANY of these questions is "no," you should take a look at the Power Point Presentation on Mediation Confidentiality that I recently gave as an MCLE teleseminar.
I've included in this presentation the speakers' notes so that you'll be able to obtain almost as much benefit from the Power Point as did the "live" participants.
POWER POINT PRESENTATION WITH SPEAKER'S NOTES
I mention several great resources in the presentation including
- local mediator Bob Steinberg's recent article on Negotiation Ethics here.
- local policy holder coverage attorney Kirk Pasich's article on Insurance Bad Faith in Mediated Settlement Conferences here.
- Disputing Irony: A Systematic Look at Litigation About Mediation by James R. Coben & Peter N. Thompson from the Hamline U School of Law.
I also have an entire page of resources, together with a form mediated settlement agreement here.
