The Indiana Supreme Court has issued orders amending rules of the court, some of which concern juror privacy and public access to juror questionnaires and discovery of certain insurance settlement information in mediations.
A deaf man’s lawsuit that challenged the denial of a request for a sign language interpreter in a court-ordered family law modest means mediation was dismissed on appeal Friday.
A Hamilton County woman is entitled to a post-retirement survivor benefit offered by her ex-husband’s military retirement program, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed Tuesday.
When the ugly weed of hate and division sprouted at the Bloomington farmers’ market last summer, it highlighted deeper conflicts in the college town and launched a community-wide mediation to address longstanding issues of discrimination and bigotry.
Nearly every legal function has transitioned to a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic, and mediation is no exception. But the concept of online dispute resolution was gaining traction even before “coronavirus” was an everyday word.
What is a mediator to do when faced with the dilemma of a key witness who refuses to show up to a court-ordered mediation? I am asking which course lawyers thing the mediator should take — or if there is another under such circumstances.
Social distancing has created obstacles for legal counsel for many litigation tasks, especially mediation. Some mediations are being delayed or canceled. However, for many cases, parties and counsel should seriously consider online virtual mediation.
As the recent coronavirus pandemic has swept through the nation and has changed many aspects of our lives, so too has the landscape of the legal field. One of the most significant changes to have taken place over the last month is the way parties are conducting mediations.
Recent data suggests owners, architects, contractors and others involved in the construction process are gravitating toward alternative dispute resolution. Mediation, in particular, is emerging as a preferred – and in many cases, required – option.
The Indiana Supreme Court is seeking comment from the bench, bar and public on several proposed amendments to various Indiana court rules.
They say you shouldn’t mix business and family. But not all Indiana lawyers follow that rule. Indiana Lawyer recently sat down with five sets of family practitioners.
Parties cannot be ordered to participate in alternative dispute resolution in small claims proceedings, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, reinstating a dog-bite case that an Indianapolis judge had dismissed after litigants refused to participate in court-ordered mediation.
In the field of alternative dispute resolution, diversity appears to be making fewer gains than in the legal profession as a whole. A 2018 article in the ABA Journal reported that, generally, studies show women comprising around 20% of the national ADR field. Similarly, American Bar Association Resolution 105 calls dispute resolution “arguably the least diverse corner of the profession.”
Mediation results in a settlement more than 85% of the time. However, getting to “yes” is hard work — especially for the mediator. While we lawyers do a great job of advocating in mediation, we could do more to make the process more productive, and perhaps improve the likelihood of settlement, by focusing on developing the mediator’s agenda in advance of mediation.
Mediators must always remain independent in resolving disputes between widely disparate views and interests. However, mediators evaluate cases to some degree when facilitating settlement discussions between parties. The mediator must tread lightly when the issue of his or her evaluation is broached by one of the parties.
Three attorneys have left Carmel-based Hollingsworth & Zivitz law firm to start their own partnership, the lawyers announced. The migration of counsel from the family-law focused firm comes after a lawsuit between its founding partners was settled with one partner’s buyout.
A failed mediation attempt has led to court proceedings to dissolve a prominent Indianapolis-area divorce law firm. Kena Hollingsworth of Hollingsworth & Zivitz, P.C., filed a petition for dissolution of her Carmel firm in Kena S. Hollingsworth v. Hollingsworth & Zivitz, P.C., and Christina M. Zivitz, 29D02-1904-PL-003832, writing that a “deadlock” exists between her and partner Christina Zivitz over the management of the firm.
Your client wants to bring a nonparty friend/significant other/family member to mediation, but you worry that the presence of a nonparty will allow opposing counsel access to the substance of your mediation-related communications with your client. Is this worry justified?
Although I’ve been at this law thing for a while and have mediated cases over the last 10 years, I always find value in hearing about the experiences and strategies of others who have accumulated the awareness and wisdom of playing peacemaker on a regular basis.
In the curriculum for business ethics that I teach to students at Butler University’s Lacy School of Business, we cover John Locke and his notion of private property rights – natural rights that existed for each individual in the state of nature. Locke contended that men left that state of nature, in part, because the challenge of enforcing those rights led to a state of war. In more than 30 years of real estate litigation practice, I have seen what often looks like that state of war play out between litigants.