See Diane Levin's interesting post about "Civil Gideon" rights and the charge that Judges and mediators strong-arm unrepresented litigants to settle their cases when they would prefer to proceed to trial.

This is not a new charge.  Nor is it a false one.  I continue to hear stories about strong-arm tactics in our local halls of justice.  And these tactics are not applied only to the pro per litigant.  I have seen attorneys deliver up their clients to court-annexed mediators as living sacrifices to bad legal advice or a simple lack of courage to deliver bad news about the course a case has taken.   

There is a difference between seeking the mediator's help with adjusting a party's overly optimistic expectations and ambushing your own client in court-annexed mediation proceedings.  I can hear the wails of my friends Joe Folger and Baruch Bush from Temple University and Hofstra Law School (respectively) (authors of The Promise of Mediation) now.

A snippet from Diane's post quoting and link to the longer, must-read post:

Russell Engler, a Professor at New England School of Law. In his 2006 article, "Shaping a Context-Based Civil Gideon from the Dynamics of Social Change," Professor Engler describes the actions of those standing in the way of progress thus:

In the courtroom, court personnel, including the judges, will likely encourage the unrepresented litigant to settle the case. That, in turn, may require the litigant to go to the hallway to negotiate with the lawyer, or to resort to some form of court-based mediation. The hallway negotiations are rife with instances of overreaching and unethical behavior by lawyers, unmonitored and unpunished by a legal system that depends on a high settlement rate. Where the litigants resist settlement, strong words from the judges, mediators or lawyers eventually induce litigants to settle. Few civil cases are tried, and most settlements involving the unrepresented poor occur with a minimum of judicial involvement. [Id. at 2.]

For the remainder of the article, click here.

Both Diane and I invite responses from our readers.