Blog
After last week’s incredible guest lecture by a veteran crisis negotiator from the Orlando Police Department, my lecture this week felt “flat” by comparison. The visiting detective truly was a tough act to follow. It’s not that the material we were covering this week was boring or unimportant – we examined the types of cases suitable for mediation, learned how to prepare for mediation and studied the value of delivering mediation services in an organized and reliably sequential process. I just never got the feeling that our group discussion gained the type of momentum my students have come to expect from me in previous weeks.
We had another guest speaker join us this week for class at Florida A&M University College of Law – a veteran detective for the Orlando Police Department who happens to be one of the agency’s most experienced crisis negotiators. My students and I sat mesmerized for two-and-a-half hours while he explained the history and theory of modern crisis negotiation and then narrated audio excerpts from an actual hostage situation he participated in several years ago in downtown Orlando.
This week, we had a guest speaker – a prominent clinical psychiatrist I happen to know. He delivered a fascinating lecture titled “Anxiety, Cognitive Distortions and the Impact on Mediation” to my class at Florida A&M University College of Law. ... A major theme of my lectures so far has been the notion that mediation is a human construct, subject to human weaknesses. As anyone with significant mediation experience well knows, a highly-agitated party or lawyer can hijack the entire mediation process and obstruct the other participants from their pursuit of a meaningful resolution.
I recently had the great pleasure of joining Donna DeVaney Stockham, a principal with Stockham Law Group, and Michael Parker, a shareholder in the law firm of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, in a panel discussion titled “Return to Civility: How to Communicate More Effectively in Today’s Professional Environment.” The presentation was made at the annual WINDSTORM Conference, this year in New Orleans, La. WINDSTORM Insurance Network, Inc., is a professional organization dedicated to providing education and training and promoting a cooperative dialogue among professionals concerned with first party property insurance issues.
Last weekend, I attended a picnic sponsored by the law school. One of my students came over to the table where I was working and introduced me to her significant other. The young man told me that my student had been encouraging him to use some of the negotiation strategies we had recently been discussing in class to address an issue that had arisen at his workplace. (Could it be that I am actually making an impact?)
During our third week of class, I created a new exercise to help my students identify stereotypes and learn to refrain from prejudging other people. I asked the students to characterize the homes in which they were raised and to share one important fact about their upbringings that their classmates might be surprised to learn.
What a difference seven days can make. During my second week as a law school professor, I felt much more confident in my abilities at the lectern. In no small part, that was because none of my students dropped the course after hearing me speak in week one. As a matter of fact, we added a student – a guest, really – my mom.
I have always wanted to teach a law school class. So, when the Dean of Academic Affairs at FAMU College of Law called to invite me to teach a course about mediation, I jumped at the opportunity. After 23 years as a practicing lawyer, I am finally checking this item off of my bucket list. I want to do an excellent job. I want this to be one of those courses my students look back on years later and say, "I really learned something from Professor Peters."
Scheduling can be one of the biggest challenges in getting ready for a mediation, particularly if the case involves numerous attorneys. It is important to place a hold on the mediator’s calendar as soon as possible so that you will preserve the date. When you are ready to schedule the mediation, please consider the date and time of the mediation, the location, the fees and charges, the name of the mediator you are requesting, the location and the amount of time you think you will need for the mediation.
Earlier this year, shareholder Michelle Jernigan took part in a boot camp for paralegals. She offered fundamental advice about hiring a mediator and assisting when a mediation takes place. What is mediation? A professional neutral helps disputing parties to reach agreement through third-party facilitated negotiation. When should parties institute the mediation process? Most Courts in Florida will ultimately order parties in litigation to mediation. Depending on the case, mediation could take place before litigation commences, after discovery is complete, before or after summary judgment motions are filed, or at any other time during the litigation process.