Strategies for Managing Multi-Defendant Mediations

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It can be difficult to settle cases where opposing parties have strong disagreements over case value. This difficulty can rise exponentially when multiple defendants participate in a mediation, with divergent ideas about responsibility, exposure and appropriate levels of participation.

At times, disputes between different defendants can become intractable, threatening to derail the entire mediation process. If the defendants can’t even agree on how to divide up a starting offer, how can a negotiation proceed? There are, however, some creative strategies to keep multi-defendant mediations on track and headed to resolution.

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Are you Prepared for Your Personal Injury Mediation? — Plaintiff’s Case

/ Clayton Mediation/

Abraham Lincoln once said that if he were given six hours to cut down a tree, he would spend four hours sharpening his axe. This may seem a bit anachronistic in the digital era but the essential point rings true; especially when it comes to mediation of personal injury cases.

Many attorneys see a day spent in mediation as not particularly heavy lifting: drafting a mediation statement and scribbling a few ideas on a legal pad. A day in mediation is a lot easier than taking an expert’s deposition and far, far easier than time in trial.

Comfort zones, however, can instill complacency. If we view mediation of a personal injury case as the client’s day in court, is there any room for casual lawyering? Let’s focus on how plaintiff’s counsel can prepare to make a personal injury mediation both meaningful for clients and successful.

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Civility as a Negotiation Strategy

/ Clayton Mediation/

When I teach Negotiation, I am sometimes amazed at how much I learn from the law students I am supposed to be teaching.  A good example is the perceptive observation by one of my students that “good people skills should be the low-hanging fruit in a negotiation.”  

The point is this:  While many aspects of negotiation are difficult, the seemingly easiest is just working well with others -- being polite, acknowledging opposing viewpoints, showing respect and paying attention.  These, and other active listening skills, should be a given in any negotiation, setting the stage for effective communication, information sharing and working together toward resolution.

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