At the recent ABA Section on Dispute Resolution spring meeting, I attended one program whose title promised an answer to the fascinating question “What Do Litigators Want?” when it comes to mediator practices.
All well and good, but the question I was most interested in was very different: “What do your clients want? ”
Alas, I never got a straight answer, although the guy sitting behind me whispered his thanks in my ear and said, “I’m glad you asked that. I’m a client myself, and I can tell you right now, my lawyers don’t have a clue what I want.”
So what can we – attorneys and mediators alike – do to help clients choose and participate fully and meaningfully in the right process for them and their dispute? Here’s my modest proposal, with a tip of the hat to Joseph P. McMahon, Leonard Riskin, and Nancy Welsh:
That would at least be a start. If you have other ideas, by all means, weigh in. I’m all ears.
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