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Life Lessons From The COVID-19 Pandemic
The world has changed – for good in many ways – in the past 18 months. COVID has left an indelible mark on our world, our country, our cities, our neighborhoods, and on our families. COVID has brought not only tragedy and change, unforeseeable changes and...
Do Your Homework – Get to Know Your Mediator
That mediation is usually a quicker, more efficient, and cost-effective alternative to litigation is widely accepted by lawyers. But what many lawyers may not know is that the skills of mediators – especially in Missouri – can vary to a significant degree. So, if...
The Myth Of ‘Splitting the Baby’ In Arbitration
I am an advocate of arbitration, and this is why: Giving the parties a faster, cheaper, and certain decision has great value in the right situation. Critics of arbitration argue that arbitrators “split the baby,” meaning that arbitrators never rule all the way for...
What to Expect During Virtual Mediations
At the start of 2020, very few people knew much about – let alone utilized – online meeting platforms such as Zoom. But the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns it brought worldwide changed all that. Seemingly overnight, business as well as private individuals were...
Finding Your Diamond In The Rough Mediator
Are all mediators the same? I wonder how many lawyers think this is true or maybe they categorize us into a couple of groups: Super-experienced, go-to mediators; Retired Judges; and Everyone else I am challenging you to think beyond this paradigm. The first two...
Understanding and Using Psychology in Mediation
I was fortunate enough to be asked to contribute an article (co-authored with the fantastic Ken Chackes) for the Bar Association Of Metro St. Louis (BAMSL) spring edition of the St. Louis Bar Journal focusing on Alternative Dispute Resolution. We decided to explore...
Moving Forward As An Attorney In The Pandemic
2020 was a year of slowing down. Everyone’s day-to-day life – no matter your profession or where you live – looks drastically different today than it did a year ago. In my industry, lawyers have had to mourn the loss of sometimes the most rewarding parts of their...
FINRA Mediation & Arbitration: Why ADR Is The Right Choice
Arbitration and mediation are used to resolve securities and employment disputes between and among investors, brokerage firms and individual brokers. Both of these alternative dispute resolution methods offer a more timely, efficient and affordable way of resolving...
Changes in Title IX Regulations Make Mediation An Appealing Option
Title IX rears its head again as the women's basketball players shamed the NCAA by showing pictures of the lame weight room (if you can call it that) provided to the female athletes. Compare the rack of light dumbbells given to the women with the extensive and...
Personal Heroes Come In Many Different Shapes & Forms
Who are your heroes? Answering this question makes me smile. Heroes inspire me, so indulge me for a moment while I tell you about a few of mine.Who is the beautiful lady on this picture? That is my grandmother, LaVerne Kirn. She has passed away, but I spent lots of...
Yes, Your Employer Can Require COVID Vaccinations
Employers must provide their workers a safe workplace, and in my experience, employers want to offer a safe workplace: They care about their employees (how else would the work get done?) and, so long as it does not impact the bottom line too much, they are...
Welcome 2021! Committing To Reducing Conflict In The New Year
Happy New Year! As we saw very clearly over the past 12 months, everyone may not always agree on everything. But if there’s one thing I believe most of us likely can agree upon, it’s that we’re all glad to ring in the New Year and say good-bye to 2020....
The Christmas Skates
No mediation stats this month, just a sweet and true Christmas story. Perryville, Missouri was a small town in rural southeast Missouri, and back in 1970 the Interstate highway that now links Perryville to the Big City, was incomplete. Like many small towns...
Why You Should Select A Female Mediator
Women make up an even smaller portion of the mediation community than they do the legal community. In the Eastern District of Missouri, the federal court boasts of 110 approved mediators and of that total, 17 are female (15% of total). Just for purposes of...
The Best of the Worst – To Zoom or to Mask?
Attorneys are living in a virtual world these days, which includes mediating and arbitrating online. I have completed both mediations and arbitrations using ZOOM, but do we have an alternative? Well, one prudent alternative is to meet in-person in an adequately...
Deepak Chopra, Mediator
Deepak Chopra, author and spiritual advisor, is also a mediator—who knew!? He has been called in to help with quarrels between national leaders and recently gave an interview to the New York Times laying out nine steps to help resolve disagreements. Love it! ...
Michael Scott – Successful Mediator?
A comparison between The Office’s “Conflict Resolution” and real-life mediation. If you’ve ever watched “The Office,” you know Michael Scott as the hilarious but grossly incompetent and inappropriate manager of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Scranton branch. From...
ZOOM Mullets
A young executive Vice president in the entertainment industry came clean that he wore the same shirt for ZOOM work calls for 70 consecutive days and NO ONE noticed. Granted it was a nice shirt—Brooks Brothers, black, red and white small plaid with a button-down...
KIM L. KIRN – Attorney, Mediator and Advocate
Get to know KIM L. KIRN, a full-time mediator and arbitrator located right here in St. Louis, who has dedicated over three decades to working in the legal system. What Do You What To Be When You Grow Up? Although she has spent her entire professional career in...
Virtual Mediation Technology Glitches
We are soooooooooo dependent upon our technology during this pandemic. Most of my communication with co-workers and attorney-colleagues is through email and text. Even phone calls with my smart phone (which sometimes seems too smart… like creepy smart) have become...
This Too Will End
What do winter and the Covid 19 pandemic have in common? They both seem like they will last forever. But we all know both will end, I promise. Here in St. Louis we can walk outside, using social distancing, and as I take full...
The Advantages of Virtual Mediation and Arbitration
When COVID19 brought current legal proceedings to a halt with closures of courthouses and law offices, many wondered – what does this mean for mediation and arbitration? Could it be done virtually? Would it … could it, be an alternative route for those waiting for...
Mediating Home Disputes
Working from home presents some brand-new challenges: your spouse is with you 24-7; your kids are home and attending school online; and you cannot leave the confines of your home. So, this creates an opportunity to mediate some home-bound...
Same But Different
Virtual Mediation--Alternative Dispute Resolution has moved (kicking and screaming) into the virtual world. My firm has handled over a dozen virtual mediations and arbitrations in the past few weeks and here is what we have learned:-Virtual mediation can...
COFFEE WITH A SIDE OF KINDNESS
Starbucks holds a special place in my heart; I am a regular coffee drinker and by now my local store knows not only my name, but also my dog’s name. The other day I was in line ready to order and overheard the customer in front of me laughing about her...
Why New Years Resolutions And Mediations Fail
WHY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS AND MEDIATIONS FAIL What is your New Year’s Resolution? Last January I started this blog and resolved to post at least monthly. I did it (well, except for December, which as a working Mom, is excusable—in fact, I...
Med-Arb Baseball Style
MED-ARB BASEBALL STYLE As a follow up to my last post on Med-Arb, I want to describe a new type of Med-Arb gaining popularity: Med-Arb Baseball Style. (Okay, I made up that name but it aptly describes this process.) In Major League...
WHY WE LIKE THINGS TO REMAIN THE SAME
Have you visited Disney World lately? I just returned from a family vacation to the Magic Kingdom and I had such a strong sense of pleasure wandering from one favorite attraction to the next. Flying with Peter Pan, floating on the boats of “It’s a Small...
MEANINGFUL MEDIATIONS WITH PRO SE PARTIES
Can you mediate with pro se parties … meaningfully? 40% of State Court litigants are pro se. (“Pro se” means individuals or corporations who do not hire an attorney to represent them in the dispute) 20% of federal court litigants are pro...
Mediation scores a goal at the world cup
The US Women’s Soccer Team is fighting (and winning) two battles right now: in France they are running and kicking a soccer ball with the most elite female players from around the world*; and in federal court in LA they are suing the US Soccer Federation...
EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATIO
What is this? It has a nifty acronym (ENE) but what’s all the fuss? The attention is because the federal court in St. Louis is now using ENE in selected cases and, just as important, ENE really works. Here is the quick take: ENE provides...
Breaking Bread Together
BREAKING BREAD TOGETHER The fascinating psychology behind mediation has given us another insight. Sharing food from a common plate, sometimes called eating “family style” results in better and faster negotiations. Researchers...
How to Be Effective in Mediation-Podcast
You must listen to these podcasts!!! Attorneys Gary Burger and Debbie Champion record a podcast entitled "Lawyer v Lawyer" and recently I was a guest discussing how to be effective in mediation. There are three podcasts in total and I have included...
Slogging Through Mediation
My beloved hiking boots--I wore them hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and I treasure these boots and the trails we covered together. But they also symbolize what happens to all of us at a mediation. Many times mediation is a long, hard, uphill...
Mediation Process – What to Expect at Mediation
Watch this short video on the mediation process and what to expect.
New Years Resolutions
Here it is ... the dawn of 2019 and its time for a new year's resolution. Some past year resolutions I have kept and some have fallen by the wayside. This year I resolve to begin a blog, or a "blawg" (the cute name for law related blogs) I resolve to make it...