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MEDIATION MINUTE:
Quick Strategies for Better Negotiations May 2011
-- INAUGURAL ISSUE! --
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| MIKE DAISLEY Attorney Certified Mediator, NCDRC |
WELCOME!
More and more cases are getting resolved at mediation.
This e-newsletter is designed to offer some quick strategies to consider for getting the results you want!
Whether you are receiving this e-newsletter as an attorney, insurance claims professional, sales executive, business owner or a manager in a non-profit organization, you are involved in negotiations every day. Most are informal, of course, but some are more structured, such as mediations ordered by the civil courts or arranged through some other process.
Having served as a Certified Mediator in North Carolina's Superior Courts for almost a decade, and having litigated and negotiated civil cases for a quarter-century now, I've learned that certain factors and issues always seem to come up again and again.
What I hope to offer you in these occasional electronic epistles is some insight as to what seems to work best, and what things you ought to avoid, in order to get your case or situation resolved under terms that are the most favorable for you or your client.
Please know that your feedback and ideas would be really appreciated! Call or email me, and feel free to forward this along to anyone you think might have interest. Thanks!!
All the best,
Mike Daisley
WELLS DAISLEY RABON, P.A. 1616 Cleveland Avenue Charlotte, North Carolina 28203
phone: (704) 375-1800 
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Opening Gambits...
Consider these two outside-the-box ploys to set the right tone in the opening session...
Should Plaintiff's counsel acknowledge warts and weaknesses upfront, and make an opening demand as part of Plaintiff's case?
In a paradoxical way, a Plaintiff's case can sometimes get stronger by acknowledging its weaknesses. In the two-minute video just to the right, I explain how in a recent mediation, a plaintiff's attorney skillfully set an aggressive and appropriate tone in
| CLICK ON IMAGE FOR VIDEO |
opening session. He laid out in typical fashion the Plaintiff's "best case scenario," but then candidly discussed all the things about his client's case that "frankly, worry me at night." That made the thing he did next all the more credible: He presented Plaintiff's opening demand.
In most civil cases, demands and offers don't usually get discussed until the break-out sessions behind closed doors. But in this particular case, it seemed to demonstrate to the defense that Plaintiff's counsel had his client's case very well-analyzed, and led to what I thought was an pretty favorable result for the Plaintiff.
Can Defendant's counsel effectively lower a case's settlement value by empathetically lowering a Plaintiff's expectations?
This second "ploy," when done well, can be very effective in setting a conciliatory tone that can lead to a favorable settlement for the defense. I've seen this done more
| Mediation Opening For Defendants |
frequently than a Plaintiff's opening demand in opening session, but I've also seen it done poorly, when it can really backfire.
Not every defense counsel has the personality to pull this off, but establishing empathy and -- strange as it may seem -- compassion for the Plaintiff may not only be a decent thing to do, it can also be effective advocacy. In this second two-minute video, I go into more detail as to how I've seen this done at it's best. Within a minute or two, a truly compassionate defense counsel can make it seem like he/she and the Plaintiff are the only two folks in the room. Defense counsel can then sincerely and empathetically talk about "some uncomfortable facts in the record" that will have to come out at trial if the case doesn't settle.
I just hope Woody Allen wasn't talking about defense counsel when he famously quipped, "If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made." Joking aside, the main risk with trying to fake it, is that most litigants can sense it, and they do not like it. |
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You're receiving this email because of your or your company's previous contacts with Charlotte attorney Mike Daisley of the law firm of Wells Daisley Rabon, P.A. Its purpose is to provide you and your colleagues and friends with helpful information and general legal insights. This email is NOT intended as a solicitation of representation, nor specific advice for any specific legal problems or issues. |
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