ALAN HOWARD, ESQ.

"Mediators who take the time to understand the drivers of the businesses of the parties, and who may even represent similarly situated clients, can help parties in mediation forge a path toward a creative solution. Experienced litigators who are also concurrently practicing before courts may be even more accurate in their assessment of how a sitting judge would adjudicate the parties’ positions. Because the mediation process is within the control of the parties, they can be creative on how to use it to best achieve a resolution, and that creativity may be brought to the process from the outset."

EDWIN M. BAUM, ESQ.

"For commercial mediators, the most important specialized skills are born from years or decades of counseling clients on objectively evaluating their cases, deciding on what terms to settle or fight; from understanding what drives client decisionmakers in making those decisions; from representing and advocating for clients in negotiating settlements and regular course deals; and ultimately from having counseled clients on how to address claims and disputes in ways that best serves their business objectives."

JIM QUINN, ESQ.

TRACEE E. DAVIS, ESQ.

"In today’s economy, a corporation’s data and intangibles are its most important asset. Confidential proprietary information can be more easily preserved and kept confidential in mediation than in litigation. Also, in litigation, the parties are forced to take adversarial positions that can damage relationships, goodwill, and reputations. Mediation can avoid this potential risk by fostering an environment in which the parties can develop a win-win resolution. Sometimes, in doing so, parties can also build a stronger relationship or find other profitable opportunities to develop or collaborate in conducting future business."

MICHAEL STARR, ESQ.

"Generally speaking, it is never too early, and it is never too late to mediate. Mediating early in a lawsuit certainly avoids the most litigation costs. Parties usually know all the truly critical facts and evidence from the outset, and that one piece of evidence that might be found after costly and protracted discovery is, truth be told, not generally outcome determinative. It does not project lack of resolve or confidence to suggest mediation to clients at the outset but rather it shows a focus on what is best for the client rather than the lawyer. Except for such special circumstances – rarer than many litigators seem to think – the motto for mediation is, “The sooner the better."

WILLIAM H. GRONER, ESQ.

"Counterintuitively, more complex cases can make it easier to facilitate a resolution as it provides a skilled creative neutral more pieces and issues to work with, to leverage, and to fashion a resolution. Further, multi-party cases give a neutral the opportunity to work with partial resolution against just one of the defendants, and often, just that prospect can help bring reluctant defendants to common ground. Additionally, complex cases give the neutral the opportunity to narrow and resolve the “low hanging fruit” issues, which can build trust between the neutrals and the parties and create momentum in the mediation towards an all-encompassing settlement."

LAURENCE A. LEVY, ESQ.

"Mediation is bringing a transactional approach to a dispute. It focuses on getting past the dispute by finding ways to resolve differences, in the same way a transaction charts a path that is mutually beneficial to the parties. It should be a collaborative process involving the deal making skills of both the client and the lawyer in resolving issues. Simply put, mediation allows business leaders to make the most advantageous business decisions given the facts and circumstances of the existing dispute."