Multi Party Mediation - Part 1
mediator blah…blah…: Sometimes, just sometimes, busy commercial mediators take the time to spread a little wisdom around the rest of us and one of the great things about belonging to the International Academy of Mediators is that you usually get to hear about it first.
So it was this week when Eleanor Barr, an accomplished mediator out of Los Angeles, asked for advice on how to structure a 13 party mediation.
It did not take long before a wise old owl, who had heard Eleanor’s request floating on a winter wind, flew down and perched on a nearby branch.
Michael Landrum of Landrum Dobbins LLC in Plymouth, MN generously recalled the time he convened a 17-party case with 53 mediation participants that was scheduled for five consecutive days, but settled in three.
Michael’s advice comes from a lifetime at the table and is pure gold. You won’t find this in a text book and you probably won’t understand how valuable it is unless you are actually out there doing these large, multi party cases with 30+ people in one room all going in different directions like cats on cocaine.
Michael has ten tips - here’s his first five;
1. Convene a “Process Design Conference” among attorneys (and maybe clients) on a separate day in advance of the actual mediation session. I have found this approach has the advantages of (a) getting their buy-in to the process (and thus a greater commitment to settlement); (b) enabling you to see how each player behaves during only “process negotiations,” which is an indicator of how they will conduct themselves when the rubber meets the road and how to deal with them when the process hits potholes; and (c) functioning as a good forum for identifying “affinity groups” as referenced below.
2. Establish and post caucus “schedules” (first couple of rounds…