Law Commons^™

Using Decision Trees As Tools For Settlement, Marjorie Corman Aaron

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

While experienced lawyers can some­ times develop an intuitive sense of what a case is worth, their intuition may not be sufficient in a case of considerable complexity. Furthermore, intuitive "gut sense" valuations are hard to support or explain to clients.

Decision trees allow the parties and their lawyers to see more clearly how the strengths and weaknesses of their positions on specific issues will affect the overall value of a case. Long popular in the business community, deci­sion analysis has evolved as a tool for lawyers to help make decisions in complex litigation.

Adr Toolbox: The Highwire Art Of Evaluation, Marjorie Corman Aaron

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Many mediators are uncomfortable with the idea of discussing or presenting evaluations. However, when parties reach an impasse, they often want the mediator to play an active role. In these cases, responsible use of evaluation is completely consistent with the goals of mediation. Mediators should provide an evaluation only if there is an insurmountable settlement gap that arises from the parties’ widely divergent views of what will happen if the case doesn’t settle. Evaluation is not a substitute for other essential mediation tools. It is a last step, but in many cases skipping that step means missing the sole opportunity …