Roundtable Breakfast - Mediation through the Eyes of New York Litigators

Rick Weil, Esq.

MEDIATION THROUGH THE EYES OF NEW YORK LITIGATORS

What do New York litigators think about mediation?   To find out, the New York state and city bar associations sponsored a survey of commercial, real estate and employment litigators.   As it turned out, the lawyers generally have positive views, but opinions ranged from “it’s the wave of the future,” to “it’s a fad.”

In this program, Rick Weil, who conceived and directed the survey and wrote the report, will discuss the survey’s findings - some expected, some surprising.   Topics will include what lawyers like and dislike about mediation, what they say to clients about mediation, what they consider when deciding whether to mediate a case, how they propose mediation to opposing counsel, what factors most affect the success of mediation and how more lawyers and clients can be encouraged to try mediation. 

The report is available at www.weilmediation.com.

Rick Weil began his legal career litigating high impact employment discrimination cases for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department.  Subsequently, he established a litigation and transactional practice in San Francisco that focused on business, employment, real estate and family law.  He has litigated over 1,000 cases and tried more than 150.  Since 1992, Mr. Weil has served as a mediator in his private practice, for Federal and State Courts in New York, New Jersey and California and for arts organizations in New York and California.  He has mediated over 200 cases, represented clients in numerous ADR proceedings, and helped train mediators for the New York City Bar Association and the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court.