The plaintiff came to the mediation with a slamdunk case on liability and damages. The defendant came outraged at the sham lawsuit and vowing to take it to trial. Within two hours, the case was settled and both sides left relieved and happy.

   When I begin a mediation, I explain that, "Today is Mediation Day. It's a vacation from litigation." On Mediation Day, both sides put down their weapons and agree to let their Mediator lead their search for common ground.

   Everyone wants the same thing - that is, for the litigation to end – they just don't see how to get there. That's why they'll follow a Mediator with the vision to lead them.

   Don't wait. Make your holiday plans today!

David Geffen is a...
ADA Mediator •  Reasonable Accommodation Mediator • FEHA Mediator •  FHA Mediator • Employment & Housing Mediator • Wage & Hour Mediator • IDEA Mediator • Serious Personal Injury Mediator • Contract Dispute Mediator • Civil Rights Mediator • Real Property Mediator • Partnership Disputes Mediator • Business Disputes Mediator • ADA Expert • Reasonable Accommodation Expert  

Mr. Geffen recently mediated a premises liability case I was defending. Mr. Geffen was savant on the facts and law. The parties did not agree on anything. Surprise. Lol.
     And the parties were very far apart at the outset, requiring significant movement by both sides. Mr. Geffen employed a reasonable and pragmatic approach to quickly bridging this gap while allowing each side to maintain balance with its position. I would strongly recommend Mr. Geffen to other litigators as a mediator.
      ---
Mark Lowary   January 6, 2017
Berman, Berman, Berman, Schneider & Lowary LLP
*Note from DG: I agree and thanks.

I feel blessed for where I live, and how I live. That is why I spend over 100 hours a year giving service as a board member to two nonprofit organizations that make the world more beautiful, and more just.

Art Trek’s classroom and community art experiences immerse children in the self enhancing world of creativity – children who would not otherwise know their unbelievable potential.

The Westside Center for Independent Living connects people with disabilities, new or long-term, to the resources, training and advocacy tools they will use to build a self-determined life. WCIL’s vision is to achieve a world where everyone’s voice and value is recognized and there are no barriers to living a full life.

It’s Annual Appeal time and I hope that you will open your hearts and wallets to these excellent causes.

http://arttrek.org/donate/
http://www.wcil.org/about/donate/

I feel blessed for where I live, and how I live. That is why I spend over 100 hours a year giving service as a board member to two nonprofit organizations that make the world more beautiful, and more just.

Art Trek’s classroom and community art experiences immerse children in the self enhancing world of creativity – children who would not otherwise know their unbelievable potential.

The Westside Center for Independent Living connects people with disabilities, new or long-term, to the resources, training and advocacy tools they will use to build a self-determined life. WCIL’s vision is to achieve a world where everyone’s voice and value is recognized and there are no barriers to living a full life.

It’s Annual Appeal time and I hope that you will open your hearts and wallets to these excellent causes.

http://arttrek.org/donate/
http://www.wcil.org/about/donate/

The illustrations above remind us that more than one thing can be true at the same time, depending on perspective.

Marcus Aurelius wrote,
    Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

If this were easily done, there would be far fewer mediations. Instead, mediators must be students of perception, the attorneys’, the clients’, the court’s, and their own. When mediators help the participants see through the eyes of others, or experience the facts in another way, it cracks their rigid faith in their own point of view.

And, as the late Leonard Cohen would say,
    That’s how the light gets in.

Attorneys – Do you know what your firm is required to do to accommodate your needs if you become disabled? Are you prepared to advise your employer/client to answer these questions:

• Disability Leave: How long is too long?
•  Interactive Process Communications:  If there is no documentation, do they exist?
•  Undue Hardship:  When is it too hard to accommodate?
•  Assistive Technology: How does new technology change what's reasonable?
  

Join me, David Geffen, ADA consultant and mediator, and my fellow panelists V. James DeSimone, Esq., of V. James DeSimone Law, and Nancy Yaffe, Esq., of Fox Rothschild LLP, for one hour of CLE credit and a Century City breakfast. Hosted by Caroline Vincent, Esq., and ADR Services, Inc.

When: October 27, 2016   7:30 AM – 9 AM
Location:
ADR Services, Inc.
1900 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 250
Los Angeles, CA 90067

****ATTENDEES MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE***

The program is free to members of LACBA, and $25 for non-members of LACBA. Please follow the link to register:

https://customers.lacba.org/Interactive/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=102716LAB&WebsiteKey=d1ad4c15-b0de-4a6e-9a08-bebf7733938b

       Setting – Conference table in an office suite

     Players – Mediator, forlorn Business Owner, and the owner’s Attorney

Business Owner: We do everything we know how to do to keep our  employees safe, productive, and happy. We always work with employees who need accommodations. It seems like no matter what we do, we still end up getting sued. I guess this is just the cost of doing business, and there’s nothing to do be done about it.

Mediator: Well, maybe not nothing. Have you considered a mediation agreement with your employees that either offers or requires mediation before bringing a lawsuit?

We plan and life gets in the way. A car accident, childcare, cancer, an older parent who needs help. The employee wants time off, wants to work from home, come earlier, leave later, or work part-time. The employer is sympathetic, but has a business to run, doesn’t want to set a precedent for other employees, not to mention the other employees getting resentful about having to pick up the slack.

Disagreements over accommodation issues are one of the main reasons employees leave and end up suing their employers. These disputes are super-charged with emotions such as blame and anger.

When there is a mandatory or optional Mediation Agreement in place, there is another outlet to resolve workplace problems that might otherwise result in expensive litigation. The employee has an opportunity to tell his or her side of the story directly to the employer and to an impartial listener (the mediator). This can be a powerful experience for both the employer and the employee. Outside of the workplace, solutions may occur that didn’t occur otherwise.

I’m so excited to be a part of this historic settlement that took over five long years to bring about.

     In addition to being co-counsel on the case, I am president of the board of the Westside Center for Independent Living. For many, many years, the number one request for help from our members with all types of disabilities has been for affordable accessible housing. There was little to offer more than an inaccurate list of supposedly accessible apartments that were always occupied by non-disabled tenants.

     Independent living starts with accessible affordable housing. The settlement will change people's lives.

     See the story… http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-housing-settlement-disabled-20160828-snap-story.html

Mediators have strong faith in the mediation process. Yet, their faith must be tempered by common sense. To illustrate,
     A mediator was walking along a lovely mountain path when he carelessly slipped over the edge of a steep gorge. Clinging to a shrub on the mountainside, recognizing the serious peril, he shouted, “Is there anybody up there?”

     Hearing nothing but his echo, his desperation mounting, he shouted louder and louder each time, “Is there anybody up there?”

     Finally, a deep and powerful voice rained down from the sky with a question, “Do you have faith?”

     “Yes, yes, I have faith!” he replied.  

     “Then let go,” said the voice from above.

     The mediator hesitated a few seconds, then shouted, “Is there anybody else up there?”

- Before I speak, I have something important to say.
- Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
- Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.


- Groucho Marx