Mediation has a lot of postive aspects and certainly is a valid tool in the settlement of cases. However, I use mediation primarily because it is the insurance company and defense counsel who insist on the process. I start from several biased thoughts about mediation. The first is that it has grown into an industry from a situation where great trial lawyers negotiated their own cases directly with defense counsel or the insurance industry and I am not convinced it…
We know that in this world of headline reporting people draw instant impressions. Human resource people report they spend on average 15 seconds per resume so the opening lines had better be an attention getter. In the first few seconds of every encounter we are instantly evaluated. We are observed from head to toe by demeanor, body language and grooming. Within three seconds impressions are formed about us. When it involves advertising it is the headline that determines whether you…
Last Friday James Rogers and I co-chaired a seminar for the Washington State Trial Lawyers, who have voted to change their name to Washington State Association for Justice. In addition to James and myself we had talented lawyers speak who included Virginia DeCosta and Craig Sims from Seattle; Randi McGinn and Carl Bettinger from New Mexico; Terry O’Reilly from California and Jim Gilbert from Colorado. It was a wonderful seminar on a variety of subjects. Here a few of the…