BY DAN GIBSON On Nov. 3, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued an important decision affecting mediated settlements, Mitchell v. Boswell. The court held N.C.G.S. § 7A-38.1(l)’s provision saying a mediated settlement agreement is unenforceable “unless it has been ...

Tagged with: Mediation

  More than 10 years have passed since legal scholar and researcher Randall Kiser and his colleagues published their famous study documenting how often, and at what cost, attorneys obtain a result worse than what could have been achieved by ...

Tagged with: Mediation

When grown-ups tell an especially precocious child that he or she “ought to be a lawyer when you grow up,” it is not always meant as a compliment. Often the suggestion is really a euphemistic complaint that the child is ...

Tagged with: Mediation

A myth, according to my well-worn companion Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, is “an unfounded and false notion.” The thicket of rules and statutory provisions governing mediated settlement conferences in North Carolina Superior Court cases has given rise to a ...

Tagged with: Mediation

Like too many courts throughout the state and country, Wake County District Court has an overloaded docket and a shortage of judges and support staff – common problems that are rooted in tight budgets. But something noteworthy has happened here. ...

Tagged with: Mediation

As mediators, attorneys and educators, we understand the importance of preparing litigators to engage in mediation advocacy effectively. We also understand the realities of law firm practice and the scarcity of time attorneys have to devote to professional development. However, ...

Tagged with: Mediation

Hello, my name is Shon, and I am a recovering courtroom addict. I used to believe that all family law matters should be tried for their sins and litigated to the end of time. For the first 15 years of ...

Tagged with: Mediation

DeCristoforo v. Givens (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-15-0538, 25 pp.) (James Gale, C.J.) 2015 NCBC 53 Holding: Although the parties expected to execute a “further statement of their agreement and complete mutual release,” the mediated settlement agreement they signed is nonetheless ...

Tagged with: Mediation

Two sons who were excluded from their father’s will have reached a settlement with the father’s estate for $190,000, the sons’ attorneys report. Mitchell D’Or died in June 2012 at the age of 58. A new will he had executed ...

Tagged with: Mediation

By DIANA SMITH, Staff Writer diana.smith@nc.lawyersweekly.com   Ann Shy says she would be bored to tears in a mediated settlement conference. Move that mediation to a prison setting, however, and the Carrboro lawyer is ready to play ball. And thanks ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice Mediation