When I was in law school, the only type of lawyer I was interested in being was a litigator. I wanted to go to court, I wanted to take depositions, I wanted to try cases. Well, civil practice tends to be broader than all that and, as fate would have it, I got to law school right after the 80s and at a time that the legal system was trying to invent ways to combat the excesses of the prior decade. All hail the advent of mediation and arbitration!
I've written about both of these procedures before (you can check out the earlier postings on www.kaijacobs.blogspot.com - I even posted a pretty picture of Miami just before a hurricane for effect), so don't get nervous that I've run out of material and I'm going to start repeating myself. To the contrary, I'm about to let you know that there is yet another mechanism becoming popular that's designed to settle cases and limit my courtroom time - mediation while your case is on appeal.
In both state and federal courts, there are mechanisms now in place to ensure that you attend mediation both at the trial level and if you find your case on appeal. Mediation on appeal has all of the great advantages that clients like - it forces open and frank discussion about the issues, it requires negotiation to see if there is a bottom line result that ends a lawsuit, it cuts down on attorneys' fees and costs if successful, it puts litigation behind the parties and it could save everyone months or years of time. This is a great invention for you litigants. It's a forced opportunity to come out of your shell and try to get to an end result.
It also means that I have to take off my advocate hat and put on my negotiator hat. It fits weirdly, but I'm getting used to it.
Have a great weekend everyone.
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