Attorney Steve's Top Tips for Mediation Success!

hi attorney Steve honor we're back the business and real estate lawyer we are talking in this video about mediation victory how to succeed in your mediation how to get the your case settle and how to move on with your life in a way that you can live with okay so let's head to the attorney Steve litigation let's just call it the mediation whiteboard for today only usually we do a lot of litigation in this firm but we're going to talk a little bit about mediation today okay so what happens we're talking here about our mediation tips so we got it up there nice and big for you some tips that you need to think about this is for our clients or current clients our future clients and for people just to think about some things that may help you in your mediation okay so what is mediation mediation is when the court orders you to go into a mediation let's say you're halfway into a case in a state court or a federal court and the judge says order to mediate okay well then you have to go mediate okay so this would apply in those circumstances you may have other circumstances where the parties go you know what we're spending a lot of money on litigation we've got expend more expensive discovery coming up we've we've figured out what most of the case facts are we think we know where the case stands let's go mediate let's agree voluntarily privately let's let's put the case on hold let's put our litigation on hold and let's go mediate with a private mediator okay there are people that that specialize in being just a mediator what we call ADR let's that stand for alternative dispute resolution okay so this video is going to cover some of the things what's going to happen in the mediation with some tips for you we're not going to cover everything we're going to give you a good overview so that you're ready to go okay one why mediate well mediation is a chance for you to get your case settled two to stop the bleeding in the litigation everybody knows litigation is expensive so you want to find a way to maybe resolve your disputes informally so you can just move on so mediate is a good quick way to try to settle your disputes without expending additional costs okay so that's why you mean rate general steps very simple pick your mediator usually you're going to submit your mediation briefs you're going to prepare your case you're going to show up you're going to get into some usually you're going to start with a what we call a joint session don't get any funny ideas I know marijuana is legal in some states but don't get any funny ideas here okay so but you're going to have a joint session where you get together with all the parties and the mediator is going to control how things go the mediator will set the tone the mediator will have some ground rules and say this is this is how we're going to do it they may ask you to start by having the attorneys present the case giving the arguments as to to what the the problem here is what the evidence is what the grievances are what the law is those kinds of things so you have a chance to get into a group setting look each other face to face because realize when you're in litigation for the most part aside from your depositions you're not getting that opportunity for face-to-face interaction in a mediation setting you could literally be sitting three feet two feet across from the other person look them right in the eye and try to find some middle ground okay so that's really another important thing about mediation so you're going to get in there you're going to have the mediator doing the joint session you may then do some breakaway sessions you may you may get in where one party goes to this room the other party goes to that room and then the mediator will come in and start on one party and say you know those so tell me about your case I understand what your problems are I mean you know what what do you want I mean how can we get this resolved today so that's why it's important in advance to have prepared you're prepared your case to understand your facts your arguments but also to have a short list of reasonable demands that you're willing to settle now you don't always want to just give up your hand real quick and say well this is the bottom line I'll settle for no you usually want to start fairly high start where where you you know we'd like to be ideally realizing that you're going to have to compromise a little bit you're going to have to give in but you give in slowly painstakingly you give in that's how we like to mediate cases okay negotiate we don't like to give a lot of ground we'd like to get what we're entitled to and fight for every last time as we like to say so you'll have the session where the mediators in there working on you trying to pick your brain trying to see where you're at then the mediator will take that information go over to the other party where are you where are you at and so the mediator is going to try to find out where both parties are and they're going to try to find do little techniques mediation techniques to try to bridge the gap and bring the parties gather together so maybe they can find some common ground without chewing each other's necks off okay so so this is the basic process of mediation and then if you can get the mediation agreement you can basically agree to agree and complete a settlement agreement mutual release and settlement agreement after the mediation and follow up with the mediator to finalize the case so that's really the general process it doesn't mean you're going to be successful in all mediations but I think if you take some of these tips and apply them your chances of success your chances of for mediation victory go way up hopefully through the roof okay so that's now so that's your general step let's talk about mediation briefs one of the things that's important early on because you got to remember lots of times you're paying these mediators on an hourly basis okay if they're not called court-appointed or for a free mediator you're paying out-of-pocket for these mediators okay so that can get expensive as well but a good thing to help you reduce some of the time that you're going to have to spend on this is to have a mediation brief prepared by a an attorney that's knows your case that can passionately in in short and concise fashion summarize your case so the mediator has something to read and can say okay I see what's going on here okay I get it I get it has your it has your your fax your disputed facts your undisputed facts you're legal arguments your case law but short and brief to the point where the mediator can understand it you may also include exhibits pleadings orders declarations anything else that has come up during the course of the case that will help the mediator understand the legal arguments and what your position actually is and you know in some cases the mediator is going to look at this brief and say hmm this person is a little unrealistic it's an unrealistic litigant wanting unrealistic outcomes and this one over here hmm this is this person's probably going to win at trial and qualified mediators can be with are usually very experienced attorneys in their practice areas business or real estate intellectual property insurance law those kinds of things they're going to know they're going to have a good feeling lots of times their ex judges by the way so lots of times they're going to have a good feeling for who's going to win the case and they may try extra hard to persuade the party with the lesser case to try to get a little more reasonable and be willing to compromise so the mediation brief is very important you want that short and concise but with enough information to tell your case gives the mediator the opportunity to review it come to the mediation where all parties are on the same page it may also be good to exchange your mediation briefs with the opposing parties okay so that they can review your positions maybe there's something they hadn't thought about maybe their clients look at it and they go home you know I hadn't really seen it phrased that way before this is very interesting um mr. attorney is that true do they have a good case is that a good argument so it can help facilitate things so you might want to exchange your briefs in advance now some mediators will also say encourage the attorneys send me a confidential settlement offer tell me on the side what you're willing to settle for now that's something that you have to get together with your clients and decide do we want to do this what do we want to do what amounts would we want to set what types of remedies are really going to satisfy us do we want to do that you may you may not those are things you have to discuss on a case-by-case basis so that's your mediation briefs we got that next tip mediation tip is preparation now this is what we think is is really good now when I was back in the baseball days playing baseball my coaches used to tell me dirty Steve I was an attorney Steve back then mr. Steve remember the five PS remember the five piece has like what are the five PS proper planning prevents poor performance let's say it again proper planning prevents poor performance okay so the five piece so if you're preparing you're going to succeed you're going to have your mediation victory in one way or the other even if you don't settle the case you're going to advance your points and in a very forceful fashion the other party is going to see what you have they're going to have to decide Wow do we want to go up against that in trial so as a lawyer this is your chance to show your parties and the other parties what you're going to do what kind of Payton case you're going to put on how much passion you have for the case and it's really going to tell a lot of things so preparation that is like I said again understanding your facts cold understanding the black letter law understanding your case law understanding the timelines understanding where you are in the case understanding what the other party has or doesn't have understanding what the witnesses are going to say those kinds of things are essential when you're talking about preparation drop my pen so you're going to want to prepare that's a huge big tip let's just put five five P's there okay write that down for your notes talk to your attorneys we need to do the five piece have we done the five piece they're going to laugh at you but you're going to say terney steve told me that okay let's go over the next tip mediation tip is the ground rules again it's important to understand your mediator if you want to make the most effective use of your time and have the most chance for success and to be able to persuade heed the mediator that you have a good case that justice is on your side that you're entitled to those damages in those remedies you want to understand they're brown wolves and be able to comply with those rules you don't want to walk in and say huh where we at you know what what's the rules how does it work what if I want to break do it mr. attorney did you read the ground rules in advance going back to the five piece okay so anyway you know the ground rules this is a big one the next mediation tip is create reasonable settlement opportunities reasonable settlement alternatives in other words don't come into mediation going it's my way or the highway I'm getting every last drop or I'm gonna hear their heads coming off and everything's gonna I will just get see my boxing gloves we don't want to bring those to the mediation we don't want to bring those okay so come up with a list of things that you would be willing to sacrifice for willing to settle for willing to compromise for you're gonna have to give up maybe a little bit of what you want and make some concessions okay make some concessions so be thinking about have a list talk it through with your attorneys and things that we can we can give on some things we can't give on some things we must have some things we can do without if if we can reach a settlement so come up with that realistic list of things you're willing to give in it's very very important okay great reasonable settlement is negotiating with strength again this goes back to what I said earlier give in but giving slowly you don't just come in and throw your your best offer on the line off the bat why well we all know sometimes there's a thing known as buyer's remorse you buy something then you go oh my God why did I why did I do that it the same thing can happen in a mediation if you end up getting a very quick settlement you know you come in and within an hour you're like okay yeah it sounds good I'm settle here shake sign you know do all this kind of thing you could wind up the next morning having your clients wake up and go I did and I say I think I left money on the table I know I left money on the table I'm not going through this settlement so you want to give in slowly it's why it's important that you understand that mediation is a process don't rush it work it through slowly concisely keep your hostilities in check keep your ego in check stay calm okay so that's very important negotiate with strength and finally the final last tip if you've made it this far I can almost assure you mediation and success I can't guarantee it I can't guarantee it but here's the thing listen had a coach one tell the coach one time tell me Fondren you got two ears and one mouth you use the two ears okay so this can be very important listen to the other side this can be ultra important because you may pick up on some weaknesses in their argument you may hear some Achilles heel in their legal arguments so let them talk let them talk okay now bear in mind a lot of the things that you're going to go through and discuss in a mediation is going to be confidential and you can't use it in court but if you hear the things that are being said it may lead you to if settlement can't be reached it may lead you to some other discovery items that you hadn't thought of so listen use your ears again check your ego at the door do not walk in with this big blown-up ego thinking that it's your way or the highway you got to come in with an open mind this is a chance to settle this is a chance to show where you're coming from so put your ego on the back burner and again finally take it slow take it easy there's no rush you don't want to stay in the mediators office you know five days paying for five hours you know they're paying $350 an hour but take it slow present your case listen check your ego so if you're putting all this together you're getting a good flavor for what mediation is if you need a mediation lawyer if you need someone to step in and help you in a media if you need a litigation arbitration lawyer give us a call we handle business real estate insurance intellectual property cases and you can find out more information our full list of mediation tips at mediation victory comm one more time mediation victory com don't forget to subscribe to wherever they put the video they're always changing it don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel we look forward to bringing you more litigation essentials attorney Steve Andre thanks a lot have a great day you

Channel: Steve Vondran

Views: 162,017

Rating: 4.838623 out of 5

Keywords: mediation, tips, attorney, adr, arbitration, lawyers, legal, briefs, arguments, disputes, settlement, agreements, litigation, court, order, business, real estate, intellectual property, insurance law

Id: E32KsK0M93s

Length: 16min 16sec (976 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2015