COMMENT FOR THE DAY
MEDIATION

Can you get the parties + their lawyers to agree to two simultaneous side-by-side meetings? The first with you + the parties. Second – the 2 lawyers working on the detail. You hope so. It is the way forward.

You think hard overnight. What words work best? How to handle the body language/ the eye contact? How to deflect the inevitable spoke in the wheel from claimants’ lawyer?

You get it right. Two separate meetings happen. Now it is you + the parties. And the goal here is to switch the focus from today’s confrontation to yesterday’s harmony. Take it in stages – “How did you meet? What was the first contract? The t/o volume looks good?”

You have put the good times on the table. Now, draw on it gently as you approach what has gone wrong. Maybe a mistake/misunderstanding or two? Does the business have momentum – a future?

Your skills are working + the parties are responding. But how to handle the absent over-active – even objectionable – claimants’ lawyer? Ego has been bruised.

Episode 5 27 May 2021