Mediation Practice Guide: A Handbook for Resolving
Business Disputes
by Bennett G Picker (available from American Bar Association
website, www.abanet.org/dispute, $39)
This book has been well received within the mediation community.
It is presented in an easily readable format and covers topics
which are likely to be helpful to those new to mediation as
well as those engaged in mediation as mediators or party advisers.
These include the suitability of a dispute for mediation,
when to mediate and why mediation should work – or might
fail. There is a detailed analysis of the stages of a typical
mediation and of the style and approach which the mediator
may take.
Guidance is given for both the mediator and negotiators on
how to overcome barriers to the resolution of a dispute and
how to help a client to move forward. There are useful sections
on negotiation skills and effective preparation for the mediation
itself. Many negotiators will benefit from the suggestions
made here. A chapter is devoted to strategies which businesses
and law firms can take to promote mediation and other ADR
approaches and the appendices are helpful and extensive.
The author concludes by commenting on how the world of dispute
resolution has changed rapidly in recent years, emphasising
that mediation is becoming commonplace as an enormously powerful
tool to resolve disputes early, cost effectively and fairly.
He focuses on the exciting challenges for the legal profession
as it adopts new roles and seeks to change its traditional
approach to resolving disputes. He points out that “the
problem-solving approach to dispute resolution can be extraordinarily
stimulating and rewarding” and that commitment to new
approaches to dispute resolution will add substantial value
both to clients and to the legal profession.
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