This program will address cutting-edge issues facing mediators in achieving and preserving negotiated settlements. Attendees will receive practical guidance for assisting parties in consummating resolution of their disputes while adhering to ethical canons of particular relevance in mediation and avoiding common pitfalls that can derail settlement.

Through a series of practical and ethical scenarios, the panelists will explore how mediators should respond when a party asks what the settlement number should be; whether and when to use tools such as bracketing, decision trees, reframing of issues, or mediator opinions; and whether it is appropriate to speak with a party’s counsel outside the client’s presence, or with a party outside counsel’s presence. The discussion will also address difficult moments in the mediation process, including how to respond when a party directs the mediator to tell the other side that it is not negotiating in good faith, or when a party privately states, toward the end of a frustrating day, that it selected the mediator because it expected the mediator to expose the other party’s weaknesses.

Once the parties reach a settlement in principle, additional issues may arise. This program will examine whether a mediator should insist that the parties sign a memorandum of understanding before concluding the mediation, whether the mediator should draft or otherwise participate in preparing the parties’ settlement agreement, and whether the mediator should agree to resolve disputes arising under the settlement agreement.

Moderator:

Tracey Frisch, AAA Division Vice President

Faculty:

Neal Eiseman, AAA Arbitrator and Mediator

Rich Silberberg, AAA Arbitrator and Mediator

Robyn Weinstein, Professor of Practice