Effective mediation can lead to better settlements—and achieving better settlements mean greater satisfaction for your clients and a thriving law practice for you! The Mediation Handbook: Effective Strategies for Litigators, Revised Edition, by mediator, arbitrator, and dispute resolution counselO. Russel Murray, will teach you the skills you need to prepare for and engage in an effective mediation process.
You will learn how to reach optimal solutions to even the most complicated, multi-party disputes by:
preparing yourself and your clients for mediation,
evaluating your litigation case and comparing it with your settlement options,
drafting a mediation plan,
and selecting the right mediator for your case.
And learn how to put your mediation plan to work during the mediation session, using the author’s step-by-step approach.
This book also explores tactics for dealing with problems along the way, including oppositional positional opponents, ethical issues, and the use of specially trained dispute resolution or “settlement” counsel. An entire chapter is devoted to getting past impasse, with a description of eight unique strategies for moving the parties forward. Other ADR processes are discussed, with the benefits and shortcomings of each. The book also includes an introduction to game theory, as it applies to mediation. John Nash, of "A Beautiful Mind" fame, won a Nobel Prize for his work in game theory, which provides valuable insights into negotiation and mediation strategy.
This Revised Edition updates information in the first edition and also adds two completely new chapters: Chapter 5, a case study on a successful but sub-optimal settlement of a complex design and build construction case, and Chapter 6, which provides a method for improving results in personal injury and other “money-only” cases through use of classical argumentation to negotiate better outcomes.
Chapter 1. The Mediation Process Chapter 2. Preparing for an Effective Mediation Chapter 3. Engaging in an Effective Mediation Process: Putting Your Mediation Plan to Work Chapter 4. The Problem of Impasse Chapter 5. Case Study of a “Successful” But Sub-Optimal Resolution of a Dispute: What Went Wrong? Chapter 6. Mediating the “Money-Only” Case: Using Classical Argumentation to Negotiate Better Outcomes in Mediation Chapter 7. Other ADR Options Chapter 8. Dispute Resolution Counsel Chapter 9. Ethics in Mediation and Negotiation Chapter 10. Game Theory and Mediation Appendices Index
O. Russel Murray—mediator, arbitrator, and dispute resolution counsel—is the Managing Director of ADR Source, a dispute resolution services provider based in Denver. He is one of the leading business and commercial ADR professionals in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region and has participated in hundreds of mediations and arbitrations, both as a neutral and as an advocate. He has published numerous articles on ADR and other topics and has lectured locally and nationally on ADR issues. He has served as an officer and active member in local bar association ADR committees, in the Colorado Bar Association’s ADR Section, and in the ABA Dispute Resolution Section and its various committees.
Before becoming an ADR practitioner, Russel worked for over 20 years as a business litigation and transaction attorney. After receiving his LLM from Northwestern University Law School in 1977, Russel began his career as a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, in Washington, D.C., where he also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. In 1980, he returned to Denver with a large law firm, where he practiced until 1983 before forming his own business litigation and transaction firm.
