by Marvin Schuldiner | Aug 1, 2013 | Arbitration, Commercial Mediation
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is no stranger to controversy. A-Rod, although never positive on a drug test, has admitted to past steroid use and is now being investigated by Major League Baseball for obtaining performance enhancing drugs from...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Apr 16, 2013 | Commercial Mediation
Seth Godin has some sage advice today…. Conservation of energy in conversation If you escalate (cut off in traffic, angry at the gate agent, frustrated at your boss), you’ve just added (negative) energy to a conversation. If you escalate (high-pitched...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Jan 9, 2013 | Commercial Mediation
A question (or sometimes criticism) I often hear about mediation is that the parties could just negotiate the solution out by themselves. In some cases, this is true. However, in the majority of cases which reach impasse, a mediator can be very helpful. Let’s...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Feb 1, 2011 | Arbitration
I’ve written previously about the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) proposals for allowing consumer complainants in arbitrations to use all public arbitration panels. Non-public (or industry) panel members are those who work within the financial services...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Sep 30, 2010 | Arbitration
Over two years ago, I wrote about a pilot program FINRA established to test all-public arbitration panels. FINRA, the financial industry’s regulatory arm, will be submitting to the Securities and Exchange Commission a rule change proposal next month to make...
by Marvin Schuldiner | May 19, 2010 | Commercial Mediation, Off Beat
A recently published study by Cornell University indicated that “ugly” or unattractive people who are defendants in criminal trials are 22% more likely to be found guilty and are given longer sentences on average (22 months longer) than attractive people. ...
by Marvin Schuldiner | May 10, 2010 | Commercial Mediation
Most of my regular readers know I almost never have “war stories” of my mediations on this blog. The primary reason why is confidentiality. When my clients enter a mediation, they have an absolute expectation that what is said in the mediation room stays...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Feb 12, 2010 | Commercial Mediation, Off Beat
I have written before about the power and effectiveness of a sincere apology to help resolve a dispute. Now from West Virginia, a completely different way to resolve a dispute: a slap. Stewart Altmeyer, a prosecutor in Kanawha County, was suspended without pay for one...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Feb 2, 2010 | Arbitration
Filings for arbitration at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulation body of Wall Street, are up 43% in 2009 over the previous year. Nearly all brokerage agreement specify FINRA arbitration as the only way to resolve a dispute between a...
by Marvin Schuldiner | Feb 1, 2010 | Arbitration, Commercial Mediation
Analogies between a finder of fact (a judge or jury) and referees or umpires (the arbiter of a game’s rules) are often made. It is open to debate whether the analogy firmly holds. However, it is often interesting to discuss whether any “neutral”...
