Mediation for Civil Litigators: Use of This Handbook

AuthorJOHN HOLLANDER
Pages19-20
mediation for civil litigators: use of this handbook
xix
preface
Mediation for Civil Litigators:
Use of This Handbook
   word that describes a process. As with
any legal process, mediation presents several issues that
confront the practitioner. After all, mediation involves
parties, pleadings, briefs, issues analysis, preparation, and
research just like discovery, pre-trial, and trial. One
major distinction is that in mediation everything said
and done (short of an actual settlement) is o the record.
erefore, both litigators and their clients are free from
many of the constraints that are forced on them by the
“with prejudice” rules of practice and conventions.
is handbook raises and confronts many of these
issues. e perspective of the litigator is dierent than
that of the mediator; the perspective of the inexperienced
litigator is dierent than that of the seasoned one. Each
dispute is unique; each type of dispute is unique. All of
these dierences invite a discussion of those issues from
dierent perspectives.
Central to the mediation process is the art of negotia-
tion. Law school rarely trains lawyers well in negotiation
skills. How can they suddenly become experts as they
walk into mediation? e same question could be asked

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