Search Mediators Near You:

Priming for Likely Range of Outcomes

It’s been a tough week, nationwide. First there was the Boston Marthon Bombing and then the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. In between, there were shootouts, captures and loads of probing questions. I found that it put everyone on edge all week as the news streamed throughout our office. For those reasons, I paid particular attention to attempting to focus the disputants in two of my mediations this week upon the negotiation at hand.

On Monday, I mediated a challenging race discrimination case. The challenge, in part, stemmed from the fact that the Plaintiff was still working for the governmental entity, who, he claimed, had discriminated against him, subtly, but hurtfully, for over a decade. Before commencing that mediation, I had to caution the defense lawyer that he may need to get more monetary authority than he had previously attained if he wanted to get the case settled. It was simple “priming” so that when the case got settled for something higher than his original authority (but less than the worst case scenario I painted for him), the defense lawyer and his client were well prepared to accept “the deal”. In another case, I had an out-of-state Plaintiff suing her former divorce lawyer and because she was so long embittered and angry, she had communicated to me that she was prepared to go to trial unless she was certain she could get every last cent on the lawyer’s malpractice policy. When she inevitably fell short in the negotiation, I had to prime her for the likelihood that if she chose to reject the offer at hand, she may have been met with an even smaller “pie” after the Defense lawyers spent considerable time and effort preparing for trial while she considered their “almost policy limits” offer.

Sometimes the only way to strike oil is to prime the pump until it begins to flow. It takes some effort and foresight, but the result is all the more satisfying.

                        author

Jan Frankel Schau

Attorney Jan Frankel Schau is a highly skilled neutral, engaged in full-time dispute resolution. Following a successful career spanning two decades in litigation, she has mediated over 700 cases for satisfied clients. Ms. Schau understands the nuances of trial and settlement practice as well as client relations and balancing the… MORE >

Featured Mediators

ad
View all

Read these next

Category

Conflict at Work—the Power of Envisioning Harmony

Conflict Remedy Blog by Lorraine SegalOne of the ways I support clients to resolve conflict is helping them re-imagine what is possible. Our stories have power and we can all...

By Lorraine Segal
Category

Mediator Needed To Change Ground Zero Mosque Dialogue

From Lee Jay Bermans'Eye On Conflict BlogCandidate Obama was sharply criticized for not having a plan for the economy or for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He defended by...

By Lee Jay Berman
Category

Face to Face and Social Media

Mediation Matters Blog by Steve MehtaI was at a convention recently presenting on how to interact with difficult people. At that seminar I met a friend of mine from Facebook,...

By Steve Mehta

Find a Mediator

X
X
X