Law Commons^™

The Mediated Settlement: Is It Always Just About The Money? Rarely!, Steven L. Schwartz

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Since our legal system of dispute resolution tends to remedy wrongs only by payment of money, most settlements will eventually involve negotiations over the amount to be paid and received. Yet, in both the theory and actual practice of mediation that has lead this writer to conclude that it is never just about the money. Effective lawyer representation of clients in mediation requires a different kind of investigation and preparation than lawyers may be accustomed to conducting. Similarly, an effective mediator must be adept in identifying the clues that reveal the "below the water line" interests at work and which …

To Certify, Or Not To Certify: A Comparison Of Australia And The U.S. In Achieving National Mediator Certification, Mandy Zhang

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article aims to trace the progress of establishing mediation accreditation in Australia and the United States. Part II briefly describes how each country came to the decision of exploring the necessity of national mediator certification, and also illustrates the proposed designs for the Australian certification program and U.S. certification program recommended by the ACR. Part III suggests possible reasons for why the U.S. has failed to implement the mediator certification program proposed by the ACR while Australia is moving forward to establish their system. Part IV concludes with why the U.S. should continue to push for national mediator accreditation …

Joining Forces In Search For Answers: The Use Of Therapeutic Jurisprudence In The Realm Of Mediation Ethics , Omer Shapira

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The Mediation process is part of the Alternative Dispute Resolution movement (ADR) whose modern history begins at the end of the 1970s. Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) is a younger movement which has started to gain recognition in the 1990s. The two schools of thought share similarities, a fact which makes their study beneficial for both. This article explores some of those similarities in order to evaluate the possible contribution of TJ to mediation ethics. What is sought is a normative reading of the mediation process with the aid of the therapeutic lens. Such reading suggests, so it is argued, behavioral guidelines …

Show Me The Money: Part Two, Monetizing The “Value Added” Of Attorneys Who Serve As Mediators And Arbitrators, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In the oft-told fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” the candid, uncensored observations of a young child that the Emperor’s “new clothes” weren’t clothes at all but actually the emperor’s nudity, freed the rest of the townspeople to finally acknowledge the jarring reality that their the emperor was naked. And so, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” has become a metaphor for having the courage to see things as they actually are, not for what we are incorrectly told they are. In Part One of this column, I began the discussion of how settlement-savvy lawyers might realistically use alternative fee paradigms instead …