The Next Big Thing: Improving Civil Mediation Practice and the Case for Mediation Optimization Orders
Regardless of your civil litigation practice area, your clients face difficulty getting the case to trial. Administrative orders are abundant in efforts to address the COVID-related backlog. Mediation is an obvious exit ramp on the crowed interstate of civil litigation. Compared to trial advocacy, mediation advocacy is also underappreciated for a host of reasons, and […]
Improving the Bottom Line Through Mediation Advocacy
This month’s article is an introduction to a larger seminar to be offered in the fall on the topic of promoting mediation advocacy to attract and retain clients, and to strengthen attorney-client relationships. How so, you ask? Consider this question: How does an institutional purchaser of legal services evaluate different law firms? Recent surveys reveal […]
Revisiting Mediation Provisions Within Federal Court Case Management Scheduling Orders
The extent to which federal courts are expected to follow state law has always been one of my intellectual interests. In federal court, the case management scheduling order will include directives related to mediation. There are differences between state courts and federal case management orders (CMSOs) that warrant discussion. Many CMSOs from the Middle District […]