Description:

As litigation becomes more and more expensive, many litigants choose to represent themselves in court, arbitration and in mediation. Mediating cases with a self-represented litigant (“SRL”) requires special planning by the mediator, starting with the pre-mediation session telephone call with the SRL and ending with the drafting of a settlement agreement. How does the mediator handle the power imbalance? Can a mediator be “evaluative” without seeming to coerce the SRL? What if there is a literacy or language problem? These and other critical issues will be discussed and practice tips given.

This is an MCLE program, so participants must attend in person or through the conference call-in number in order to obtain MCLE credit.n
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Discussion Leader:

Malcolm Sher earned his law degree from London University in 1969 and was admitted to the California Bar in 1976. Malcolm has extensive mediation training, including at Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, a symposium at The Harvard Negotiation Project. Malcolm has lectured widely on mediation and has published for CEB and in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal on the subject of mediation and conflict negotiation. He is a founder member of the California and National Academies of Distinguished Neutrals. Malcolm is incoming Chair of the State Bar’s Executive Committee on Mandatory Fee Arbitration, Chairperson of the Contra Costa Bar Association MFA Committee and founder of its Client Relations Committee. Malcolm is a Mandatory Settlement Conference Officer for San Francisco Superior Court and is on the ADR and the Settlement Mentor panels of Contra Costa Superior Court, Alameda Superior Court and others around the Bay Area.