Ask any mediator and they’ll tell you that being the third wheel in a party of (at least) two is not always easy. It’s their job to get the party started and keep the party going, even when the ...

Tagged with: Mediation

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 ...

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  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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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. ...

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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, ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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