by Marvin Schuldiner | Jan 4, 2010 | Commercial Mediation
I have written previously about how homeowners and lenders can use the court’s foreclosure mediation program to help resolve a foreclosure matter. Here are a few tips on how homeowners can use the mediation process more effectively: Get into the process as...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Dec 27, 2009 | Commercial Mediation
The plaintiff and defendant in a New York medical malpractice lawsuit has come to a putative settlement agreement just before the jury rendered a verdict. The parties failed to get the settlement on the record prior to the jury verdict and the settlement was...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Dec 27, 2009 | Commercial Mediation
Part of being an effective mediator is having a good understanding about how people make decisions. After all, a mediator is assisting people in making decisions. We all like to think we are making rational decisions. However, that is not always the case (despite...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Dec 14, 2009 | Arbitration
Arbitration is an alternative to a court making a decision on an issue in dispute by having an arbitrator, or private judge, make a decision on a matter. The benefits of arbitration include a quicker and less expensive trail to a decision. The disadvantage is that the...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Oct 31, 2009 | Commercial Mediation, Lawsuits
Much of what happens in a lawsuit is gamesmanship, especially during the discovery phase. Discovery comprises much of the pre-trial phase of litigation where each party seeks to understand what the other side(s) know, what documents they have pertaining to the...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Sep 12, 2009 | Commercial Mediation
In a previous posting, I discussed the American College of Trial Lawyers task force interim report on trials in America. The final report is out and here are the highlights as it pertains to mediation and getting your lawsuit settled: “Courts are encouraged to...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Sep 10, 2009 | Commercial Mediation
I have written previously about the challenges that the law industry faces. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s switch to flat fee invoicing for outside counsel. This turns on its head the basis of the long term billing...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Aug 12, 2009 | Commercial Mediation
Sprint/Nextel has a humorous new commercial (embedded below) which posits what the world would be like if loggers ran things. The context of the commercial is loggers making decisions (and carrying them out) in a divorce. While the commercial is “cute”,...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Aug 3, 2009 | Commercial Mediation, Lawsuits
I tell all my civil mediation clients the same thing: If you’re going to settle, settle early. Why? That gets to why a litigant should settle a lawsuit in the first place. When a litigant settles a case, they are essentially “buying off” two...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Jul 29, 2009 | Commercial Mediation, Lawsuits
I have previously written about the proposed rules changes by the NJ Supreme court regarding public access to court records here and here. In a nutshell, we have an open and public court system. Most (but not all) records of the court are public but are currently...
