Mediation Tips for Trial Lawyers

From this The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog post:

"Powerpoint and video presentations...If you're going to make a detailed presentation, take care. On the other hand, photographs and chronologies often help a mediator quickly understand the facts.

Try to view the process 'as a joint problem requiring a solution' and not a 'competition to win or lose.'

Make sure you talk to your client about the objective of the mediation. The client should be at the mediation and should be given access to the mediator. Generally, you should let the client speak if the client wants to speak.

When you're negotiating, don't be a "one-trick pony." That's a lawyer who is always using the same negotiating tactic, mistaking it for something very dramatic: walking out, then returning and walking out again; or drawing a firm line in the sand and promising never to cross it, only to cross it and replace it with another non-negotiable line..."