See why more than 300 professionals registered for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee’s recent webinar that explored how to maximize settlement opportunities while avoiding common pitfalls.
12:00:00 p.m.
THE SPEAKERS
Dion Cominos, firmwide managing partner, Gordon & Rees LLP
Kelly Hopper Moore, claims professional
12:02:25 p.m.
Dion Cominos
“For all of the energy spent on trial coaching and theory, there is scarcely little time devoted to the process of negotiation and settlement, even though settlement is the destination of 98 percent of all civil cases.”
12:04:20 p.m.
Dion Cominos
“The number one problem derailing settlement negotiations is ‘directionlessness.’ It accounts for 23 percent of all failed mediation and settlement discussions. It’s not ‘plan to fail,’ but ‘fail to plan.’
12:06:55 p.m.
Kelly Hopper Moore
“Early ADR can be very helpful in terms of information gathering. That’s not necessarily a popular premise, but what it can do that’s really efficacious is, from that information, a defense plan can be crafted that is targeted for that case.”
12:08:19 p.m.
Kelly Hopper Moore
“If you have a case where the parties don’t get along but they don’t know each other, meeting in a room can really help humanize everyone…. [This] humanizing can help break through some of that posturing.”
12:12:15 p.m.
Dion Cominos
“This might seem self-evident, but a great number of mediations fail because either the wrong people are there, or the right people aren’t there.”
12:15:21 p.m.
Dion Cominos
“Most mediations used to begin with a joint session. I think that thinking has changed a little…. Joint sessions have become less in vogue now because they tend to be polarizing and become vehicles for the attorneys to grandstand.”
12:16:25 p.m.
Kelly Hopper Moore
“Joint sessions have become unpopular, and everyone has a case where it was highly misused…or enflamed one side or the other, setting the case back. But they can be an effective tool if they’re planned and strategized properly.”
12:27:22 p.m.
Kelly Hopper Moore
“If the mediator hasn’t been effective…at that point, the parties have no choice but to take control. Make sure attorney/client privilege and mediation confidentiality is preserved, but have those discussions and keep the process moving [by] sidelining the mediator.”