Sylvia Mayer of https://smayerlaw.com/ joins Mac Pierre-Louis and Natalia Olowska-Czajka of https://olowskapierre.com/ to discuss Robert Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. Sylvia is an avid reader and shares her takeaways from reading Pre-Suasion and how they apply to mediation and conflict resolution. At its core, relying on…
Category: Mediation
Mediator Insights: Dropping Anchor Bias in Mediation and Negotiation
While we may think we are objective and open-minded, we all have internal cognitive biases that affect our understanding and decision-making. One common bias is anchor bias, which occurs when we rely heavily on one piece of data to the exclusion of all other information. In Robert Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion: A…
Mediator Insights: Click Clack Moo: Balancing Competing Interests in Mediation
In simple terms, litigation is a conflict arising from competing interests. Party A sues Party B. Party A wants money. Party B does not want to pay. Party A wants a contract modified or terminated. Party B does not. There are a myriad of dynamics in litigation that boil down…
Crystal Ball: Predictions about Bankruptcy Mediations
Sylvia Mayer of https://smayerlaw.com/ joins Mac Pierre-Louis and Natalia Olowska-Czajka of https://olowskapierre.com/ to look into the crystal ball and predict the direction of bankruptcy mediation in 2022. Mediation is used in bankruptcy cases in a variety of contexts, including disputed claims, challenges to discharge, avoidance actions, cash collateral and DIP…
Mediator Insights: Can You Hear Me? Missed Opportunities in Mediation and Conflict Resolution
Dr. Seuss’ “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” offers a classic example of missed opportunities. Let me draw you a picture. Visualize this: Two Dr. Seuss characters are standing back-to-back in a room. One is named Joe. We do not know the other’s name. Each is holding a…
Is Trust a Necessity in Bankruptcy Negotiation and Mediation?
An oft-touted truism about both negotiation and mediation is that trust is critical to reaching an agreement. But is it? Parties typically come to mediation or engage in negotiation with a trust deficit. Perhaps parties feel wronged, betrayed, or angry. Perhaps there is no prior history between the parties, or…
Mediator Insights: Receptivity and Resolution
Receptivity is being open to listening and accepting new information, ideas, or suggestions. In the context of mediation, receptivity is often the key to resolution (i.e., settlement). Receptivity is also the core focus of Robert Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. Cialdini coined the word “pre-suasion” to…
Ethics and the Art of Mediation
Attorneys owe a duty of candor to the tribunal and competency to their clients, but what obligations does an attorney bear in mediation? This article, reprinted with the permission of the American Bankruptcy Institute (www.abi.org), offers practical ethics guidance to assist attorneys representing parties in bankruptcy mediation. In the article,…
Power of Imagination in Mediation
Imagine. Imagine closure. Imagine being able to focus on your future. Imagine having this lawsuit behind you. Imagination is a powerful tool in mediation. Sometimes, the most effective path to conflict resolution is to imagine a future without conflict. To illustrate, I will share a story about a “business divorce”…
Timing and Authenticity of an Apology in Mediation
An apology not received is no apology at all. In some mediations, an injured party may need a well-timed and authentic apology before they can move forward with conflict resolution. Timing and authenticity are the keys to an effective apology. Let me illustrate with two examples. I mediated a dispute…