Southern California Arbitration Mediation and Conflict Resolution : Settle it Now Dispute Resolution Services : Serving Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Century City : Settle It Now Negotiation Blog

Thanks to Geoff Sharp at mediator blah blah for directing us to this great U.K. Mediation resource, The Mediator Magazine which is great to poke around in a little when you're home for mother's day and mom's gone off to bed.  Here, for instance, are some well taken criticisms of mediation practice by in-house counsel from the article Where's the Magic?

Top of the list of issues which invite scorn is perceived weakness on the part of the mediator. Giving palpable nonsense and well documented fact equal air-time in the interests of appearing open-minded has backfired for a number of mediators. 'It can be frustrating where they [the mediator] can see the irrationality of the other party, how their claims and positions are unsubstantiated, and choose to ignore it,' says Frank Aghovia, legal adviser at Exel Plc. He continues, 'It's like saying, "I know he's talking out of his backside, but can you give him what he wants anyway." He concludes that 'steadfast neutrality is irritating and wastes time.'

One public sector lawyer, though generally more favourably disposed towards mediation, shares a sense of frustration with the purely facilitative model: 'If a mediator is too passive,' he says, 'there isn't going to be any realignment of expectations, there isn't going to be the refocusing of the parties on the strengths and weaknesses of their own and the other party's case. It's simply not going to happen. You're not going to facilitate the movement.'

Naturally it is all a question of degree, but frustration with a style perceived to be 'slow', 'wet', 'namby-pamby', or worse, 'like therapy' is real, and stands in the way of mediation increasing its meagre market share.

It is also evident that some mediators have failed to manage the process with sufficient vigour, fuelling comments like 'I've been at quite a few [mediations] and question what the mediator actually does.' No doubt they've had to spend all their time working with the other side, but if so, this needs to be communicated.

This lack of robustness which for many is synonymous with mediation has bred the widespread belief that mediation only works when both sides want to mediate. And where that's the case, without prejudice discussions will do the job. Until mediation's image hardens to the point where people realise that great mediators can deal with the shirty, dismissive and gratuitously rude types, mediation will remain in the shadows. . . .

These criticisms are real and require attention.  I'm uncertain of the state of "professional" mediation in the U.K., but here in California, its all over the board.  For the mediation advocate and his client, finding the right mediator for the right case at the right time is not only more art than science, it's often more guesswork than art. 

I'll be dealing with the issues raised by this U.K. article in the coming weeks.  For the full article, click on the link above.

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I shouldn't be talking about collaboration and reciprocity without penning a short note of gratitude for the benefits bestowed upon me and my readers by the new Forbes.com Business and Financial Network.  

The BFNetwork has not only introduced me to many business blogs that otherwise wouldn't have come to my attention, my narcissistic perusal of my own posts listed there have drawn me into abundant Forbes.com resources that benefit my readers.  

I urge my fellow Forbes BFN Bloggers to poke around Forbe's  pages to unearth riches that can benefit their readers there.    

(right:  Forbes.com staff writer Tara Weiss)

That ridiculously lengthy introduction out of the way, here's a great article on how to negotiate a higher salary during a recession from Forbes.com staff writer Tara Weiss -- How to Ask  For A Raise When Times Are Hard.  Summary below:

• find out what people in your market and your position are making.
• once you know your market value, request a conversation with your manager about salary
• remind your manager of the strong contributions you've made.
• during an economic downturn, highlight new clients you've brought to the firm and cost-saving measures you've enacted. Include the key projects you've completed and goals you've met.
• prove you're vital to getting the company through a recession
• present your manager with the research you collected on what others in your market are making.
• consider perks outside of salary such as vacation time, health benefits, or reimbursement for commuting and professional training in a job-related skill.
• if you're rejected, ask what you can do in the next six months to make this conversation successful the next time. 

Thanks Tara!

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Today's New York Times (Questions of Rent Tactics by Private Equity) reports that investment firms have been purchasing New York City rental properties for the avowed purpose of "turning over 20 percent to 30 percent of the units, five times the typical vacancy rate," to upgrade the rentals up and out of rent regulation, generating tens of millions of dollars of income for the investors.    

Tenants are complaining that the investment firms' tactics to "turn over" those units (i.e., evict low-income residents from their homes) are not only ruthless, but fraudulent as well.  See the full article here.

So what's the little guy to do when BigBusiness decides to set aside ethics to maximize profit?  What individuals have always done when their survival is threatened.  Organize.  According to John Medina, author of Brain Rules, there's more than one way to be the fittest survivor and collaboration has always been our species' strategy.  

"Suppose you are not the biggest person on the block," Medina writes,

but you have thousands of years to become one.  What do you do?  If you are an animal, the most straightforward approach is becoming physically bigger, like the alpha male in a dog pack, with selection favoring muscle and bone.  But there is another way to double your biomass.  It's not by creating a body, but by creating an ally.  If you could establish cooperative agreements with some of your neighbors, you could double your power even if you did not personally double your strength. 

Trying to fight off a woolly mammoth?  Alone, and the fight might look like Bambi vs. Godzilla.  Two or three of you, however, coordinating your behaviors and establishing the concept of 'teamwork,' and you present a formidable challenge:  You can figure out how to compel the mammoth to tumble over a cliff.  There is ample evidence that his is exactly what we did

Locating and deploying likely allies is not only good sense when the individual has no bargaining power -- like NYC's low-income tenants -- it's also an extremely savvy move for business negotiators.  As Lax and Sebenius explain in their ground-breaking book 3-D Negotiation

[w]here one-dimensional negotiators mainly focus on actions at the table, [the] third dimension, “setup,” extends to actions away from the table that shape and re-shape the situation to advantage. In deal after deal we’ve seen the same result: once the parties and issues are fixed, and once the negotiating table has otherwise been set, much of the game has already been played.

Therefore, before even showing up at the conference room, 3-D Negotiators take the initiative. They act away from the table to set up the most promising possible situation, ready for tactical interplay. This means ensuring that the right parties have been approached, in the right sequence, to deal with the right issues, that engage the right set of interests, at the right table or tables, at the right time, under the right expectations, and facing the right consequences of walking away if there is no deal.

If the setup at the table isn’t promising, this calls for moves to re-set it more favorably. As we’ll show you, a superior setup plus the right tactics can yield remarkable results that would be unattainable by purely tactical means, however skillful.

See the 3-D Negotiation strategy summarized in the online introduction here.

You don't need to grow larger, richer, stronger or even smarter to gain a bargaining advantage.  If you find the right allies, before you know it, you'll be roasting that woolly mammoth over charcoal briquettes in your own backyard.   

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Thanks to Commitment Matters:  Negotiation Practices in the Commodity World for pointing us to the U.K. Telegraph's provocative article Supermarkets & suppliers: Inside the price war by Jonathan Sibun and James Hall, discussing ruthless negotiation techniques employed by the big supermarket chains in the U.K.  -- like the "Flaming Lamborghini" described below.

My only response is this -- winning at any price isn't worth the price.  Whether you see your customer again makes little difference.  Tomorrow morning, it's your face in the mirror you're required to take a hard look at.  My suspicion?  The "bosses" who direct their staff to negotiate in this manner couldn't or wouldn't do it themselves and those who are doing it are either suffering wage slaves or sociopaths.   

The Flaming Lamborghini

Thought to derive its name from the restaurant in which it was coined - the same London eatery frequented by the infamous Flaming Ferrari City bankers - the Lamborghini is believed to be the model used by Tesco.

The Flaming Lamborghini is a grid-based negotiating tool in which the supermarket buyer takes the supplier on an emotional and psychological roller-coaster ride.

This is done be flip-flopping the salesperson between ‘complacency' and ‘war'.

One minute the buyer is their best friend, the next their worst enemy. This is essentially the clock-face model writ small.

The goal for the supermarket buyer is to make the suppliers feel that they are at the point of ‘maximum performance', while secretly making sure they don't stay there.

A Tesco spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the technique.

For the full article, click here. 

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Brilliant piece on de-escalating conflict over at Tammy Lenski's Conflict Zen this morning.  Teaser and link below:  

The friendly bailiff unlocked the small courtroom. After telling me to make myself at home, he pointed to a small red button on the wall. “If you need me, just press that button and I’ll be in here faster than you can blink and eye. It’s an emergency button.”

“Ok, thanks,” I replied, and began to unpack my briefcase.

“I mean it,” he said. “Just press the button. Maybe you should set up your chair so you’re near it.”

I gave him a long look. “You seem to want me to know about that button. Is there something else you want to tell me?”

Continue reading here.

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I'm asked this morning by an ADR colleague whether we can criticize diversity without sounding like racists.  The question itself is problematic because it not only assumes a racial divide, it places "us" on the "white" side of it. 

The question arose from a recent press release by local mediator Elizabeth Moreno -- Is Mediation Losing Its Effectiveness:  Lack of Diverse Mediators.  The release describes an ADR diversity initiative being pursued by Shell Oil.  Shell, noted Moreno, is  

 introducing supplier diversity to the ADR profession [by] extend[ing] business opportunities to certified minority and women ADR neutrals. These efforts, coined as "second tier," allow Shell to influence prime or majority ADR firms, with whom they do business, to also contract with minority and women owned ADR firms within the business community.

In the upcoming months Shell will be targeting  . . . ADR services to participate in second tier efforts. Shell astutely recognizes that by embracing the concept of inclusion, the company will rise to a higher level, reflecting its belief that it "will benefit from diversity through better relationships with customers, suppliers, partners, employees, government and other stakeholders, with positive impact on the bottom line."

I'm assuming that my questioner does not agree with the "affirmative action" aspect of this program.  Having debated the affirmative action issue since I began law school at U.C. Davis where the Supreme Court Bakke decision originated, I know well how divisive this issue can be.  But it is an important issue -- an issue critical to a nation not only "conceived in liberty" but "dedicated to the proposition that all men (sic) are created equal."

So Let's Take a Look at ADR and Diversity

I'll ask the academics over at the ADR Prof Blog to correct me if I'm wrong.  

I understand the academic criticism of mediation to be this:  in the immediate post-civil rights era while greater legal protections have been afforded to women and under-represented minorities, the "people" have been channeled into a system -- mediation -- that lacks the prejudice-flattening constraints of the rule of law.  More disturbing, say critics, is the fact that this "lawless" system is largely presided over by -- excuse me if this offends anyone -- OLD WHITE MEN.

I've learned more about racial bias talking to my liberal (white) "unprejudiced" friends this election season than I have since I participated in the "second wave" women's movement in the early nineteen seventies (remember consciousness raising?)  I do not judge them, nor myself, for our necessarily limited view which just happens to be that of the dominant culture.

I know we still have a serious racial divide because when I talk to my educated and liberal African American friends they say things that shock me. Things like -- the U.S. may have started the AIDS epidemic to rid the world of Africans. OK. I get it.  There's something about their experience of America that is so radically different from mine that I think their point of view is, frankly, just a little nuts.  This is what I do know -- I will never truly be able to see the world from their point of view.

That said, I do think we can criticize people for taking advantage of "diversity" issues to forward an agenda -- or their own personal advancement -- other than forwarding diversity itself. We can criticize those who would deepen the divide to profit from it.

I think Obama is modeling the correct response to racial divide, which is one of the reasons his candidacy impresses me so.  There haven't been many public figures willing to talk about the elephant in America's living room -- racism.  Nor has anyone on the national stage in my memory ever said "your dreams do not have to come at the expense of mine."

If I could write a sentence in a circle at this point, instead of linearly as the language requires me to do, I would do so.  Here is what I understood Obama's response to the question of the racial divide in America to be.

Acknowledge it Heal it Move on Heal it Move on Acknowledge it Move On Heal it Acknowledge it

There are no periods in this sentence because this activity needs to be constant and on-going.  Because we will always be stuck in our own point of view.  Because in-group and out-group prejudice will always be with us. And because the more visible markers there are for "otherness" in others, the more prey we are to the error of dividing the world into "us" and 'them."  

The answer?  Diversity.  Vigilance.  Education. 

Toward that end, here are some ADR Diversity resources: 

Commonality to Balance Diversity

Mediation:  the Great Equalizer?  A Critical Theory Analysis

Toward a More Perfect Union in an Age of Diversity: A Guide to Building Stronger Communities
through Public Dialogue

Center for Dispute Resolution, whose mission is to "to promote and provide education and comprehensive approaches to dispute resolution that constructively serve the needs of our culturally diverse society."   

ACCESS ADR:  A 2004 Diversity Initiative Launched With The Support Of The JAMS Foundation And The ABA

Striving for DIVERSITY in ADR & Why it Matters: An Interview with the Hon. Timothy K. Lewis, the Chairman of the AAA's Diversity Committee [who] speaks candidly about his interest in diversity in the decision making professions, and why allowing minorities and women an opportunity to participate is so vitally important.

The Diversity Task force of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution ("CPR") whose mission it is to "adopt businessdriven initiatives to increase the ethnic, gender, and social diversity of mediators, arbitrators, and those involved in alternative dispute resolution, both within CPR institute and on a national scale."

Compilation of mediate dot com articles on diversity in mediation 

THE GREGORY SOBEL DIVERSITY IN MEDIATION SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

Slouching Towards Inclusion by Carol Miller Lieber & Jamala Rogers

Diversity Resistance

The Media Diversity Institute

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A friend and former legal partner was fond of saying that the biggest lie in the business was I don't take it personally. After four years of full-time mediation, I have another "Big Lie" to add – it’s only about money.

The social scientists who sutdy these things say that the way in which we respond to adversity "often reflects the fact that [our] prestige or status has been threatened more than the fact that [our] purchasing power has been diminished." Miller, Disrespect and the Experience of Injustice, Annual Review of Psychology (2002). In other words, the corporate C.E.O., like any other kid on the block, will retaliate when he feels he has been disrespected.

Conversely, research shows that business people are reluctant to recommend legal action if they believe that they and their company have been treated respectfully. Although this is particularly true of fiduciary and special relationships such as lawyer-client and business partnerships of all kinds, it also applies to arm's length business transactions.

Every commercial interaction, we are told, "represents a social exchange and every form of social behavior represents a resource." Id. People's satisfaction with the outcome of a commercial transaction therefore "depends highly, and often primarily, on their perception of the fairness of those outcomes." Id.

When we, as litigators and counsellors, actively listen to what our clients and our adversaries are saying about the rights and responsibilities of all participants in an ethical business community, we stand the best chance of engendering mutual trust and respect among the parties. In that atmosphere, the probability of becoming embroiled in litigation decreases precipitously. When the parties believe that their concerns are being heard and respected, losses that might otherwise become lawsuits, are far more likely to be addressed as the understandable consequence of the inevitable mistakes and miscommunications that attend all human enterprises.

As much as we'd like to believe that we don't take it personally or that it's only about money, the good news for all of us is that we do and it's not.

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Today the Silicon Alley Insider in its post Google, Viacom: We Won't Settle YouTube Fight Out Of Court asked the same question about Google and Viacom that we've been asking about J.K. Rawling and a middle school teacher -- Whuzzup with the whole settlement thing?

As Alley reports, David Eun, VP in charge of Google content partnerships told Dow Jones Newswires ``we're going all the way to the Supreme Court.  We're very clear about it.''

In the law biz we call this "posturing," and that "all the way to the Supreme Court" comment we call laughable posturing.  Alley says:

Call us dreamers, but we still think both sides could kiss and make up before this gets to the Supremes. After all, the two sides were negotiating for months before going hostile. And Sumner Redstone's other media company -- CBS -- seems quite happy with YouTube. So while both sides can argue that there are important principles at play here, we're pretty sure they can get resolved with an appropriately sized check. 

Of course it might well not be the size of a check but some other set of commercial exchanges, concessions, or synergies that will eventually settle the thing.  

These are business people for goodness sakes.  And never was a business person born who wants to establish Supreme Court precedent.  Talk about giving away your power and control.  

We welcome comments from more knowledgeable readers!

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I'll add these to my blog roll when I'm not rushing out the door.  For now, check out Jonathan Farrington's Blog post on Negotiation - Dealing with the Early Phases, a resource I have to thank the Business Growth Blog for, cited at the end of more excellent advice on Negotiating:  Thinking it through. 

Here's a teaser to get you to the Business Growth post:

Remember that classic scene in "Erin Brokovich" where the high powered, electric utility law team shows up in force to negotiate with the small town law firm? Ed Masry sees them coming in and gets all his staff to file into the board room so they have more "lawyers" on their side of the table… and overpowers the power brokers.

Would you like to have a system that helps you think on your feet like that?

Here is a list of 8 questions you can ask yourself when you suddenly realize that you have to prepare for a negotiation. Use these to generate quick preparation for any negotiation.

For the list of 8, click here!

Thanks guys!  Great advice in both posts with more good negotiation resources at the end of the Business Growth Blog post.

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Thanks to Geoff Sharp at mediator blah blah for alerting us to this truly excellent post over at The Consensus Building Institute:  Mediator as Juror:  A Day in Middlesex County Superior Court.  After recounting the facts of the case, CBI's Managing Director Patrick Field comments as follows:

[T]he case reminded me why mediators have such an important, but difficult, job in supporting justice, civil society and social capital. Many parties simply cannot find a way out of escalating conflict and assume that justice can only be served in the courts. This case was a perfect example of several time-tested conflict lessons.

Emotions get the better of us. Here were two well-educated, well-off individuals who let their anger, hurt, offense, and desire for revenge get the best of them.

Communicating is the hardest thing to do. A second phone call, an attempt to be conciliatory, or a short email asking to set a different tone didn’t happen. Somehow, the simplest thing to do—talk—became the hardest.

Sunk costs sink us further. Clearly, the plaintiff was trying to recover his sunk costs, but had passed the point of no return. From an economic standpoint, he had failed to get out when it made dollars and sense (pun intended) and was embarrassingly digging himself deeper and deeper.

Taking responsibility is harder than fighting over it. The facts, as we came to understand them, suggested that this dispute could and should have been resolved months earlier—to everyone’s benefit. Yet the parties chose to point fingers and relinquish their responsibility for resolving the dispute efficiently, fairly, and expeditiously.

Justice is sought but not necessarily served. The parties, both angry, both determined that they were right, decided to take their case all the way to jury. Each was going to get a verdict in his favor one way or another! But the reality was that several partial settlements were offered, winnowing the total amount down, and the judge retained the right to rule on legal fees. We, the jury, were left with a seemingly trivial case, wishing we could punish them both for being so foolhardy.

Serving on a jury reaffirmed to me that justice doesn’t simply emanate Solomon-style from on high. Here’s what I learned.

Justice is not divined; it is negotiated. As our jury deliberated, I realized that this was in fact a negotiation, constrained as it might be by our charge and the evidence. Was the contract valid? Did the defendant actually breach the contract? If so, how much were the damages really worth? When parties hand over their dispute to a jury, they are not avoiding a serious negotiation, they are simply leaving it in the hands of strangers.

Justice is blind. As jurors, we couldn’t ask questions. We couldn’t get at the parties’ deeper motivations, feelings, and emotions (like a mediator might). We did issue a verdict, but we did so blindly, due to our exceedingly limited information and understanding.

Juries deliver verdicts, not necessarily justice. I feel our verdict was fair and reasonable, given what we knew. My fellow jurors (all twelve) took the case seriously, considered the evidence, and did their best to arrive at logical conclusions.

However, we probably didn’t deliver much on the larger front of justice. We couldn’t help the parties find a resolution that left them better off in terms of lower costs, less bitterness, and greater self-respect. We couldn’t censure the lawyers for not doing a better job of restraining their clients’ emotions. We couldn’t issue an admonition against abusing the courts with cases that should be settled by reasonable people elsewhere. We couldn’t aid society by helping its citizens take responsibility for their actions, emotions, and disputes.

So, mediators, next time you sit with parties who are rearing to go to court, I encourage you to keep in mind that court is really settlement, formal as it may be, by other means. And to the future parties of such a suit, it would be well to remember that there is no certainty—and in fact much reason to doubt—that a judge and jury will issue a better verdict or clearer justice than you might arrive at by your own making.

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R. David Donoghue over at the Chicago IP Litigation Blog is hosting a new "Carnival" of Blogs that is new to me -- The Carnival of Trust.  

As David explains:

The Carnival of Trust is a monthly, traveling review of ten of the last month's best posts related to various aspects of trust in the business world. It is much like the weekly Blawg Reviews that I post links to and have hosted, but those generally contain far more than ten links. My job this month was to pick those ten posts for you and provide an introduction to each post that makes you want to click through and read more.

I'm ridiculously pleased to be included in the category of Trust in Leadership and Management along with Charles H. Green's Trust Matters; George Ambler's Practice of Leadership;  and Stephen Albainy-Jenei's Patent Baristas  (if they gave awards for blog template design, PB would win in my book every day of the week).  In this crowd I feel like Zelig!

Here's David's generous mention of the Settle it Now Negotiation Blog and my recent post on convincing your clients to give up more than you (their attorney) predicted while still maintaining your credibility.

On the subject of trust-based leadership, Victoria Pynchon at the Settle It Now, Negotiation Blog has an excellent guide for maintaining your client's trust during a difficult negotiation: How Can I Convince My Client to Lose More than Predicted and Still Maintain My Own Credibility? The answer is complex and multi-faceted, but it boils down to the fact that you have to get the stakeholders and decision makers face-to-face, get their buy in on resolution as a goal (in addition to winning), explore all avenues of resolution, and you have to let them explore all aspects of the dispute, even those that do not matter. The last point is a difficult one for lawyers. As a lawyer you generally want to remain focused on the settlement inputs -- money, confidentiality provisions, sale of existing product if something about the product is being changed, etc. -- but from a trust perspective it is important that the stakeholders resolve not just those issues that go into a final agreement, but any problems or concerns they have related to the dispute or the parties to the dispute.

And let me just add here -- though I'll sound like a broken record to my regular readers -- that business people seek out lawyers because they believe themselves to be victims of injustice. (see my short-short video on this topic here)

Though I, as a mediator, am always seeking business solutions to legal problems, the client's injustice problem must be addressed to maintain your credibility (and retain your client's trust.).  Every great mediator I know will address this issue with your client unbidden.  If you're using less than great mediators --  raise the issue yourself -- all competent mediators should be prepared to address the issues foremost on your client's mind right including -- Will I lose?  How much more is this going to cost me? and Am I Being Extorted or Low-Balled?

Thanks for the mention, David!  I truly am greatly honored.  But more than that, you've helped me reach greater numbers of business people with a message that I carry somewhat like an old-fashioned missionary -- go beyond positions; find the parties' interests; create value; claim as much of that value as possible; craft business solutions to a legal problems; and, frankly address your client's injustice issues.  They'll be yours for life.

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Here's a local community protest being "handled" -- in part -- as a community-wide  "mediation," "facilitation,"  or "public dialog."

We have an attempted engagement here over the apparently unwanted "gift" of a new Home Depot in the Sunland-Tujunga community.  It appears that the community would like to see an Environmental Impact Assessment conducted and an EIR filed before the Depot moves in (if ever).

The City Attorney stepped in to help -- recruiting community mediators and facilitators to conduct a community dialog.  It's my understanding that Home Depot representatives were not present at this dialog (please correct me if I'm wrong about this).  For that reason alone -- a missing critical stakeholder -- a suspicious or hostile community response is unsurprising. 

Let me say, however, that we/** are new at this -- making an effort to engage an entire community in a facilitated conversation about the issues giving rise to a protest.  We're bound to make the type of errors highlighted by community members below.  So let's not call this a failure but an opportunity to learn.  

Here, for instance, is a recent blog entry calling the "community meeting" a facilitation rather than a mediation -- correctly noting that mediators have no allegiance to one side or the other and no agenda.  See the Zuma Times -- LA Daily Blog coverage with one or more YouTube videos here.

For background, here's a late April '08 Los Angeles Daily News article on the issue -- excerpt below.  

SUNLAND - Amid a contentious battle over a proposed Home Depot, city officials tried to cool tempers Saturday by hosting a community dialog aimed at finding a middle ground between warring factions.

About 200 community residents attended, although organizers had been expecting up to 1,000.

Although a few supporters, including Home Depot employees, noted the project would likely bring more jobs to the community, most in the crowd were against it.

Asked for opinions, most listed complaints such as traffic and an increase in day laborers. Some even used the term "community assassination." . . . .

Some residents sat and listened patiently as mediators engaged them in dialog in an effort to understand their concerns and to work toward constructive solutions.

Billed as "the Sunland/Tujunga dialog," the meeting at Mount Gleason Middle School was set up by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office as part of an agreement with The Home Depot Inc., which suspended a $10 million lawsuit against the city while it seeks a building permit.

The company is seeking to build a store on the old Kmart lot on Foothill Boulevard . . . 

Attorney Barbara Goldfarb, a volunteer facilitator with the dispute-resolution team that conducted the meeting, made sure everyone knew that she and her staff had no connection to the home-improvement company.

"I do not have a Home Depot credit card," she said before people split up into 27 groups. "I do not own Home Depot stock."

Goldfarb said the dispute-resolution program is funded by grants and funds from the city and county.

"Certain times (these types of efforts) don't work. Other times, they work out wonderfully," Goldfarb said.

"There's always an answer to conflict if people will talk."

And here's a mis-step "we" won't make next time as reported by the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance blog.  

Lots of folks have comments and questions about the evaluation form we were asked to fill out at the end of the small groups. I have some of my own, too. I was shocked and horrified at some of those questions. I thought the questions showed a slanted, pre-conceived idea of what someone thought our issues should or would be, not what our concerns really are. I spoke with Barbara Goldfarb, the lead facilitator, about it. Yep, the evaluation form was written by the RAND Corporation, just as the pre-questions were. Ms. Goldfarb agreed with me that some of those questions were way off the mark, too complex to be answered by just checking a box, or unrelated to our actual concerns.

I just want to add that I am so proud of us, all of us who showed up yesterday. We were well prepared, and participated with a mature and honest approach. Also, to those who wrote intelligent, well thought out answers to the questions, I applaud you. There were a lot of people who let us know that they were unable to attend the “dialog” due to other commitments, but those of us who were there, carried the message loud and clear! No Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga! Home Depot must follow the rules! We want our EIR!

I invite comment from participants in the community. For their information, I am not affiliated with the City of Los Angeles in any way.  I serve as a volunteer mediator for the Los Angeles County Bar Association Community Mediation program in West Hollywood, on the Los Angeles Superior Court's pro bono mediation panel (for litigated cases) and as a Settlement Officer for the local federal trial court (also for litigated cases).  Otherwise, my work is entirely in the private sector. 

___________________

/**  When I say "we" I'm referring to mediators in general who are part of a theory and practice of facilitated dialog as well as many other strands of the mediation movement including consensus-building, prejudice-reduction, settlement conferences, mediations of litigated cases, community mediation, restorative justice and the like.  I personally have had nothing to do with the community "dialog" or facilitation or "mediation" arising from the dispute over the development of a Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga.

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In the new issue of The Complete Lawyer, my fellow Human Factor columnists and I talk about what new tricks we had to learn and old skills we had to re-invent when we took the journey from legal to mediation practice.  I give you my section of the column below, encouraging you to link to the Human Factor here to read what my my good friends and colleagues Gini Nelson, Stephanie West Allen and Diane Levin have to say.

My first day of mediation training progressed in somewhat the same fashion as my first few weeks in Civil Procedure. I remember struggling with the theoretical bases of jurisdiction in Pennoyer v. Neff one day only to be told the following week that Pennoyer was no longer the law. “Why,” I remember thinking, “did we even bother with Pennoyer when this Buckeye case about an exploding boiler now seems to be the law? Or would it be replaced next week as well?”

Law school, which taught me to “think like a lawyer,” was the precise opposite of my new mediation studies. Now, it seemed, I was being trained to stop “thinking like a lawyer.” Still, mediation, like the law, was full of conflicting ideologies from which it appeared I was required to choose.

It was easy for me to be evaluative: I had 25 years of legal practice in my backpack. I learned Dr. Cialdini’s “Principles of Ethical Influence”—Reciprocation, Scarcity (the rule of the rare), Authority, Commitment, Empathy, and, Consensus. These power principles helped the mediator to “make the other side see reason” when called upon to do so.

But the evaluative style was not the only prescribed route to mediation mastery. There were many who favored facilitation. The facilitative mediator first creates an atmosphere of hope and safety before helping the parties locate areas of agreement and mutual benefit. Here, the mediator is a follower or helper on the path to resolution, like the protective figures who appear early in a hero’s journey to enlightenment.

You can’t immerse yourself in mediation for long before you hear the clamor of the transformative crowd. Facilitative mediators, say the transformative folks, too often present themselves as wizards who intrude upon the parties’ conflict with their own agenda—usually “resolution be damned, let’s settle this darn thing!” The transformative mediator lets the session wheel out of control if that is where it is eager to go. Conflict is not seen as a state to be avoided or suppressed. Like a loving mother following the course of her child’s flu, the transformative mediator provides the parties with encouragement, opportunities to rest, lots of fluids and a metaphoric place to lay their heads as the conflict runs its natural course.

When I first brought this tangle of methodologies to the few master mediators I know, they all made short work of it with the scalpel of experience. “You are the technique,” they instructed. “Just stay in the process. Don’t guess. Ask questions. Listen. Don’t give up before the miracle of mediation happens.”

Now, four years into a full-time ADR practice, I am still struggling to embrace the entire dispute—the business or people problem that found its way to an attorney because of the justice issues with which it was burdened. I often feel that I’m walking a razor’s edge. I will never stop “thinking like a lawyer.” Nor will I stop pursuing this new way of thinking—one that looks for the opportunity to finesse the legal impasse by using the problem itself as an opportunity to broker a deal.

Why mediation? For me, it’s simply a broader canvass on which to paint a new picture. How mediation? In baby steps, one after the other, in just the same way I learned to be a litigator and trial attorney. How can the Human Factor help with your own life and legal practice? Stick around. Miracles are common here. We think you’ll enjoy the ride.

 

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In this part of the new series on getting the parties to the bargaining table, I interview former in-house Chrysler counsel and former Hogan & Hartson partner, Lew Goldfarb, who now has his own full-time outside settlement counsel firm.  

For Lew's full bio and contact information, click here.

 

• what's the difference between outside settlement counsel and a mediator?

Settlement counsel is an advocate for one side, in my case, that's usually the defense.  While the mediator is a neutral who tries to facilitate a compromise, settlement counsel attempts to achieve better outcomes for his clients for two reasons:  (a) I have a complete understanding of the full range of my clients' interests, many of which are often not communicated to litigation counsel; and, (b) it is easier for me to learn the true motivations (if not the bottom line) of plaintiffs' counsel than it is for litigation counsel to do so.

In class actions, which are my specialty, I strive to craft a solution that responds to plaintiffs' counsel's needs while imposing minimal costs on my client. There are numerous, creative ways to settle class actions that accomplish both objectives effectively.

• I sometimes find that the parties for whom I mediate have not confided in the litigation team all of the corporate interests that are propelling the client toward settlement. I found this to be true in litigation practice and as a mediator. Do you encounter this as outside settlement counsel and, if so, how do you serve the client's interests without stepping on the toes of litigation counsel and vice verse.

There's always a bit of a communication gap between litigation counsel and the client.  When clients hire me as settlement counsel it's in their interest to provide me with complete information in order to get them the best possible outcome, so they rarely withhold any important information fro me. In a recent case, I was not only invited to speak at several client board meetings, I was also asked to spend several days in the field on sales trucks to observe the client's franchisees that were the subject of the lawsuit.  As a mediator, I usually only see the information that the litigation counsel provides as part of his client's submission, which is probably much more selective.

• Now that I've been mediating full time for four years, I find I'm much more prone to ask the parties interest-based questions than I was as a litigator. When I say "interest based," I mean corporate realities such as chain of command; upcoming mergers or acquisitions; a new management team; quarter- or year-end financial planning; divisional loss history; and, the like.  If you find that to be true as outside settlement counsel, what do you think accounts for corporate counsel keeping their litigation team largely in the dark about issues that might have a substantial impact on the ultimate resolution of the matter?

Since I have always approached litigation with a view toward early resolution, either as in house counsel, outside litigator or mediator, I would usually make the same inquiries regarding the client interests that you do as a mediator. My only explanation as to why corporate counsel may withhold such information from their litigators may be that they are not seeking a negotiated outcome. In that case, they may believe that their litigators will be more effective and focused without being encumbered with "interest-based" information.

• My peers in the mediation world are fond of saying that litigators have to "churn" cases before settling them. I find that a shockingly cynical attitude.  I often found that clients were more settlement averse than their litigation counsel.  What is your experience in that regard?

I have to admit that I am more on the side of the cynics. I've had this longstanding belief that the legal profession imposes enormous economic costs on society without a commensurate benefit to the public, all in the name of providing access to the legal process. (See Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 423 U.S.886 [1975]) I believe that litigators tell themselves that they were hired to litigate not settle the case. I think it's less a matter of "churning" than it is the litigators' belief believe that "early" resolution means winning a dispositive motion, even if it takes a year or more to get an outcome. (See my article "Litigate it or End it" which discusses this issue.)

While there are always legitimate corporate reasons for not settling a case, litigators are reluctant to discuss early settlement with their clients for two reasons: (1) loss of fees; and, (2) fear of showing any lack of resolve to win the case. My experience is not that clients are settlement averse, rather that litigation counsel convince their clients to hold off on settlement for one more dispositive motion.

• How did you come to champion the use of settlement counsel? 

I honed my skills as settlement counsel while serving for 16 years in house at Chrysler. When I arrived at Chrysler in 1985, the company was engaged in costly litigation with GM over a GM/Toyota joint manufacturing venture in Calif. The General Counsel asked me to look for alternatives to the litigation, which is when I found an article by Roger Fisher of Harvard promoting the use of separate settlement counsel. Chrysler did so and settled the case within a few months. I was then placed in the role of overseeing all class action litigation and serving as settlement counsel as well. Most in house counsel are not sufficiently immersed in the litigation, however, to serve as settlement counsel or simply do not have the time.

• As a former litigation partner in an AmLaw 100 law firm, do you wish you'd had inside settlement attorneys working side by side the litigation team? 

Because of my experience as in house counsel settling cases, I was always the partner urging my fellow litigators to evaluate settlement possibilities. For all the reasons set forth in my answers above, most large law firms do not embrace the idea of institutionalizing an in-firm settlement section. One exception was Wilmer Cutler in DC which did set up an ADR group within the firm with the idea that clients would make use of it. I don't know whether it still exists. I still think it is a great idea, although not as effective as the hiring of a completely separate firm or individual to explore settlement.

• Doesn't it take outside settlement counsel an unnecessarily long time to "get up to speed" on a major piece of litigation -- thereby making it less cost effective than simply hiring a mediator to help the litigators settle their own cases?

Not at all.  When I take on an assignment as settlement counsel I provide the client with a budget that includes a separate breakdown for "up to speed" time. While I need to understand the merits of the client's defense I do not need to read all the briefs since I generally am not called on to argue the merits of the case. Most importantly, I must fully understand what the client's interests are and what it is willing to offer up in settlement. For better or worse, what I offer is a very low cost, low risk means of exploring and settling complex litigation. 

Thanks Lew!  I can think of a couple of complex anti-trust, securities and IP cases I could have used your services for.  I hope this interview gets the word out to attorneys feeling pressured to settle a difficult case but unable to get the other side to the bargaining table.

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. . . because the jury is about to transform your $1.7 million commercial dispute into $352.7 million verdict . . .  read all about it in this 2001 story, After $1.7 million landed in the wrong account, CoreStates insisted it could seize the money. It was A VERY COSTLY MOVE.

I give you only the article's conclusion, daring you to click on it without reading it to the end.

The overarching question of why the bank didn’t settle remains a puzzle.[The Bank's counsel] thought he gave the bank solid advice. All the lawyers who joined in the bank’s defense hold to that position: Legally, they contend, the bank was within its rights in seizing the $1.7 million.

But the case ran away from them. It got bigger and bigger and worse and worse. And there was no stopping it. One defense lawyer observed, “It went to hell in a handbasket.”

Maurice Mitts says his client is willing to call it quits for the $56 million. But First Union still isn’t willing to pay a big number. Mitts isn’t surprised.

“ ‘We know the law, we are the law, and too bad for you,’ ” Mitts said. “That’s been their attitude all along.”

Thanks to the Philadelphia law firm of Mitts Milavec, LLC for fighting the good fight and posting this dynamite legal tale.

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Continue Reading...

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If you aren't using writs of attachment in contract cases where the amount due is certain, you aren't using the most powerful means of increasing your bargaining power in litigation.

Attend LACBA's Brown Bag Lunch with Judge James Chalfant at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse 111 N. Hill Street, Los Angeles on May 15, 2008.  Program Description:

Writs and Receivers: Practice tips for those who are rarely there. Judge James Chalfant will host a brown bag lunch highlighting tips and tricks for those who may not have much experience in this area. There is no cost to attend, but participation is limited to the first 12 attorneys who register. The program will be held in the judge's chambers at Stanley Mosk Courthouse, Dept 85. Please note, there is no CLE credit for this program.

Click here to register online.

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I'd just posted a piece on Negotiating from a Position of Weakness when along comes Harvard Business School Working Knowledge with an article about Negotiating with Wal-Mart by Julia Hanna. associate editor at the HBS Alumni Bulletin.  Below, one successful vendor's Wal-Mart Negotiation Rules.

• When you have a problem, when there's something you engage in with Wal-Mart that requires agreement so that it becomes a negotiation, the first advice is to think in partnership terms, really focus on a common goal, of getting costs out, for example, and ask questions. Don't make demands or statements ... you know, can we do this better and so forth. If the relationship with Wal-Mart is truly a partnership, negotiating to resolve differences should not endanger the tenor of the partnership.
• Don't spend time griping. Be problem solvers instead. Approach Wal-Mart by saying, "Let's work together and drive costs down and produce it so much cheaper you don't have to replace me, because if you work with me I could do it better."
• Learn from and lobby with people and their partners who have credibility, and with people having problems in the field.
• Don't ignore small issues or let things fester.
• Do not let Wal-Mart become more than 20 percent of your company's business. It's hard to negotiate with a company that controls yours.
• Never go into a meeting without a clear agenda. Make good use of the buyers' face time. Leave with answers. Don't make small talk. Get to the point; their time is valuable. Bring underlying issues to the surface. Attack them head on and find resolution face to face.
• Trying to bluff Wal-Mart is never a good idea. There is always someone willing to do it cheaper to gain the business. You have to treat the relationship as a marriage.
• ommunication and compromise is key.
• Don't take for granted that just because the buyer is young they don't know what they are talking about or that it will be an easy sell. Most young buyers are very ambitious to move up within the company and can be some of the toughest, most educated buyers you will encounter. Know your product all the way from the production standpoint to the end use.
• Chances are your buyer does, and will expect you to be even more knowledgeable.
  

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Is negotiation a political issue?

You bet.

Qureshi: Pakistan Won't Negotiate With Terrorists

(RTTNews) - Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Monday that his government would not negotiate with "terrorists" even as it seeks open dialogue with some militant groups.

Jimmy Carter and Hamas

WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL
April 16, 2008

Jimmy Carter's decision to meet with the terrorist organization Hamas is turning the former president into something of a political pariah.

New York Times "On the Issues" Foreign Policy Terrorism and Iraq

John Edwards

 On North Korea: "We should negotiate with the North Koreans. We should be tough. We should require that they stop their nuclear development program. We should have the absolute ability to verify that that has occurred."

On the Middle East: Has said that he believes "a two-state solution is ultimately the answer" but would not negotiate with Yasir Arafat. (before Arafat's death, obviously) Would send an envoy to the region.

Glenn Greenwald in Salon
Wednesday Feb. 27, 2008 
Majority of Israelis want to negotiate with Hamas

Sixty-four percent of Israelis say the government must hold direct talks with the Hamas government in Gaza toward a cease-fire and the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit. Less than one-third (28 percent) still opposes such talks.

I could go on but you get the point.  The first decision any negotiator must make is whether he's willing to negotiate with the "opposition."  And the second is on what terms.

That decision -- and the many ways in which you can bring your opponent to the bargaining table any time you wish -- with the expectation that your negotiations will either successfully resolve your dispute or drastically limit the amount of time you spend litigating it before settlement will be the subject of this week's posts. 

Along the way, we'll talk about the many ways in which the masters of international diplomacy manage to take advantage of favorable negotiation conditions and to finesse unfavorable political climates for the purpose of getting warring parties to meet in an attempt to reach accord.. 

Stay tuned!

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I was cruising around the blogosphere this morning looking for links to the prime directive of all negotiations -- know your BATNA -- when I ran across this great 2007 post by Penelope Trunk of the Brazen Careerist -- How to Negotiate When You Have Nothing to Leverage.  

Penelope suggests the weakest strategy available -- exchange power for sympathy.  "If one person has a great BATNA," writes Penelope, "and the other has a terrible one, it’s not really negotiations; it’s trying to get a little something extra. It’s asking for a favor. If you approach negotiations from this perspective then you are much more likely to get a little bit of what you want."

Two of the savviest negotiators around Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman in their tremendously practical book Negotiation Genius have devoted an entire chapter to Penelope's problem called, not surprisingly, Negotiating from a Position of Weakness.  Their recommended strategies include the following:

• Don't Reveal that You Are Weak

[H]aving a weak BATNA is not terribly problematic if the other side does not know that your BATNA is weak. If you have a weak BATNA, don't advertise it! 

• Overcome Your Weakness by Leveraging Their Weakness

[W]hen both parties have a weak BATNA, it means that the [Zone of Potential Agreement] is large.  In other words, a lot of value is created when the two sides reach an agreement.  Who claims more of this value? . . . [T]he one who fares better is the one who makes the other side's weakness more salient throughout the negotiation. 

• Identify and Leverage Your Distinct Value Proposition

[V]ery often, you do bring something to the table that distinguishes you from your competitors.  This is your distinct value proposition (DVP), and it need not be a lower price.  You may have a better product,, a higher-quality service, a good reputation, a strong brand, or a host of other assets that your [bargaining partner] values and that you can provide more effectively or cheaply than your competitors.  

• If Your Position is Very Weak, Consider Relinquishing What Little Power You Do Have (This was Penelope's strategy in the Yahoo negotiation subject of her post). 

[I]f you can't out muscle the other side in a negotiation, you may want to stop flexing our muscles and, instead, simply ask them to help you.  When negotiators try to leverage their power, others reciprocate.  This pattern can be disastrous when you are the weaker party.  But when you make it clear that you have no intention of fighting or negotiating aggressively, others also may soften their stance.

• Strategize on the Basis of Your Entire Negotiation Portfolio

[A]udit the implicit assumptions you make when formulating your negotiation strategy.  You may perceive yourself as being "weak" if you only measure strength as the ability to push hard in any given negotiation without losing the deal.  But you may discover that you are actually quite "strong" once you begin to think about your ability to withstand losing some deals because you are maximizing the value of your entire negotiation portfolio.

• Increase Your Strength by Building Coalitions with Other Weak Parties

In the realm of international relations, a vivid example of the power of coalitions surfaced during the 2003 World Trade Organization negotiations in Cancun, Mexico.  Disgruntled by the continued lack of attention paid to the issues of concern to developing nations . . . twenty-one "weak" countries banded together to create the Group of 21.  This group is now in a much stronger position to negotiate for the interests of its members than any member nation would have been on its own.

• Leverage the Power of Your Extreme Weakness-They May Need You to Survive

[I]t is often useful to tell the negotiation "bully" that an overly strong show of force can be counterproductive:  "If you push me too hard, you'll destroy me -- and lose a value-creating partner."

• Understand -- and Attack -- the Source of Their Power

A number of Planned Parenthood clinics around the country have adopted a particularly creative strategy for fighting back [against protesters], usually referred to as the "Pledge-a-Picket" Program.  Here's how it works:  The clinic asks its supporters to pledge donations to the clinic on a per protester basis.  The more protesters that show up to picket the clinic, the more money the clinic raises in donations! . . . The Planned Parenthood of Central Texas in Waco has even posted a sign outside its clinic that read:  "Even Our Protesters Support Planned Parenthood."

Once the Planned Parenthood clinics understood that the source of their opponents' power was the ability to draw large numbers of protesters outside the clinic, they were able to think of a novel way of diminishing the benefits of doing so.

Malhotra and Bazerman conclude their chapter on Negotiating from a Position of Weakness by noting that

while being in a position of weakness is sometimes unavoidable, you will negotiate most effectively when you leverage the fundamentals -- systematic preparation and careful strategy formulation.