On Bankruptcy and Mediation
By Donald L. Swanson Several years after the end of World War I, Winston Churchill penned these words about Northern Ireland: “The whole map of Europe has changed, but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again. The integrity of their quarrel is... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L. Swanson "When is the optimum time to mediate?" A 2015 Study That question is addressed in a 2015 study of 400 mediations titled, “Inside the Caucus: An Empirical Analysis of Mediation from Within.” These mediations were conducted by one of the study's authors, between 2008 and 2013, on employment disputes (e.g., discrimination and... Continue Reading →
By Donald L. Swanson The unexamined life is not worth living. --Plato And an unexamined value is not worth keeping. Here’s an unexamined value in mediation that’s held by many people: --“Mediation is an entirely-voluntary process and should not be mandated.” This value is expressed in many ways, such as: --“I will not order parties to mediate”... Continue Reading →
By Donald L. Swanson The Judges are irritated, to begin with. If anything is clear in In re Anonymous, 283 F.3d 627 (4th Cir. 2002), it’s this: the Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals are more-than-slightly unhappy with the two attorneys in the case. A Confidentiality Issue The Court hauls two competing attorneys before the... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L. Swanson Have you ever been in a multi-party mediation representing a small-player in the dispute. I don’t mean your party is “small”: I mean that your party’s position in the over-all dispute (while extremely important to the client) is viewed by others as a lower-tier issue. I have. And it’s a difficult situation:... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L. Swanson Immeasurable harm has resulted from an inability to appreciate that opposing views can be reasonable and coherent. A major cause of such harm is this: partisans lose touch with the views of others and dismiss contrary perspectives as foolish or biased. These propositions are from the authors of a 2015 study [Fn.... Continue Reading →
By Donald L. Swanson Mediated settlement agreements in bankruptcy are subject to approval by the bankruptcy court after notice to interested persons. [Fn. 1] A Recent Case An entity named “Empower” took aggressive action in a recent bankruptcy case to prevent approval of settlements and a plan, all of which arose from extensive negotiation and mediation... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L. Swanson Bracketed bargaining and a mediator’s proposal are useful and effective mediation tools. Each has its own role and function—which do not overlap. These two tools are examined in a 2015 empirical study titled, “Inside the Caucus: An Empirical Analysis of Mediation from Within” [Fn. 1]. The study is based on 400 employment... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L Swanson “When writing a mediation statement . . . lawyers fly blind. Large providers . . . offer little substantive guidance . . . Mediators themselves often fail to give explicit instructions . . . Most [law] schools rarely, if ever, teach budding lawyers about this niche genre of legal writing.” Brian Farkas*... Continue Reading →
By: Donald L. Swanson Sanctions for misconduct in a lawsuit are, actually, rare. It takes some doing to get sanctioned. Here are two Federal Court cases where failures to attend mediation incur the sanctions wrath of the courts. Sanctions in the first case total $41,712.83, while sanctions in the second case are only $1,357.46. The forty thousand... Continue Reading →
MEDIATBANKRY 