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Author: UWWM Mediation Staff

Upchurch Watson White & Max Celebrates Mediation Week 2014

Two Upchurch Watson White & Max shareholders have become deeply involved in the upcoming observation of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution’s Mediation Week 2014 — Oct. 12 to 18. Also, a UWWM mediator will be a panelist at a Miami Mediation Week event on Oct. 16, and another has organized a complimentary educational Webinar. Richard Lord, a shareholder with the group, became co-chair of the ABA section’s Mediation Committee and took part in regional outreach for the section as it encouraged and coordinated promotion of the week’s activities.

Alabama Mediator Marty Van Tassel to Join Upchurch Watson White & Max

George M. “Marty” Van Tassel Jr., most recently recognized by Birmingham Magazine as a “2014 Top Attorney” for Mediation, will join the Alabama- and Florida-based Mediation Group at the beginning of October. Mr. Van Tassel may be best known for his more than 3,000 mediations, but he also enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a litigator, representing clients in all of Alabama’s federal and state trial and appellate courts and trying cases as lead counsel in most of Alabama’s 40 judicial circuits. He represented both plaintiffs and defendants in trials seeking damages for personal injury, property damage, economic loss and wrongful death, as well as for injunctive relief.

Give Mediator Quality Input by Using Our Template

Florida Mediator Brandon S. Peters

Case information provided to a mediator before a mediation conference can be cryptic, incomplete and highly positional. Mediators need quality input to formulate an effective strategy for settling a case to the satisfaction of the parties. Even the most experienced professional neutral cannot achieve a meaningful understanding of the litigants, their interests, and the fundamentals of a dispute from a single-page letter summary. Hence, the importance of pre-mediation submissions. Shave many hours off of the time normally required to produce such a document with the aid of our template.

We’ve added SWOT Analysis to our free resources

Florida Mediator Brandon S. Peters

Attorneys can benefit from the free resources available on the UWWM website, and we’ve just added an important tool: a SWOT Analysis Template, which UWWM Dispute Resolution Counsel Brandon Peters created with extensive input from other highly-experienced legal professionals. SWOT Analysis is a useful tool for understanding the relative Strengths and Weaknesses of your client’s case and for identifying both the Options available to your client and the Truths the disputants must confront to make informed decisions about alternative courses of action.

Mediating Probate Cases to Settlement

As an attorney, you can sweeten up the bitter end that probate could become for your clients. Michael S. Orfinger, Florida mediator and a principal of Upchurch Watson White & Max, will explain why the probate practice area lends itself to mediation and how this form of dispute resolution can help you to help your clients. During the Webinar, you will learn the most common reasons why disputes erupt over the division of an estate and how probate mediation can offer clients not only a legal solution, but also a chance to be heard and even to complete the grieving process. Get 1.5 General CLE Credits through The Florida Bar (1.0 Elder Law; 1.0 Marital and Family; 1.0 Wills, Trusts and Estates Certification Credits). The course number is announced at the conclusion of the Webinar.

Mediating Probate Cases to Settlement

As an attorney, you can sweeten up the bitter end that probate could become for your clients. Michael S. Orfinger, Florida mediator and a principal of Upchurch Watson White & Max, will explain why the probate practice area lends itself to mediation and how this form of dispute resolution can help you to help your clients. During the Webinar, you will learn the most common reasons why disputes erupt over the division of an estate and how probate mediation can offer clients not only a legal solution, but also a chance to be heard and even to complete the grieving process. Get 1.5 General CLE Credits through The Florida Bar (1.0 Elder Law; 1.0 Marital and Family; 1.0 Wills, Trusts and Estates Certification Credits). The course number is announced at the conclusion of the Webinar.

Florida Mediator Rodney A. Max Helps Bring Coal-Ash Spill Class Action to $27.8 Million Settlement

After almost 20 months of negotiations, Rodney A. Max of Miami and Pamela Reeves of Knoxville, Tenn., have successfully mediated to resolution the dispute between 872 plaintiffs and the Tennessee Valley Authority regarding its 2008 coal-ash spill. The settlement recently was publicly announced as a $27.8 million payment distributed among owners of property in and around TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant. The spill at the plant reportedly dumped 5.4 million cubic yards of ash into the Emory River and surrounding tributaries, according to The Knoxville News-Sentinel. The TVA was sued for alleged damages, and U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan found TVA liable in the spill — however, issues of causation and damages were left open — and ordered mediation. At the end of December 2012, he appointed Mr. Max and Ms. Reeves to resolve the outstanding issues.