Rethinking the aggressive opening offer in mediation
Extreme opening offers in mediation remain ritual, not strategy—inviting deadlock over dialogue and raising the question: What if one side simply started somewhere more reasonable?
The exchange of offers at the outset of mediation often follows a familiar script: Each side begins with an extreme proposal that neither expects to form the basis for resolution. Consider a lawsuit in which the outcome is uncertain, each side having some prospect of success. According to ritual, the plaintiff offers a negligible discount from its best case, while the defendant offers to pay only a small part of its expected costs of defense. The proposals are extreme not because they are aggressive, but because they are untethered from any defensible assessment of litigation risk. The starting point is essentially a surreal demand.
Full article below:
The exchange of offers at the outset of mediation often follows a familiar script: Each side begins with an extreme proposal that neither expects to form the basis for resolution. Consider a lawsuit in which the outcome is uncertain, each side having some prospect of success. According to ritual, the plaintiff offers a negligible discount from its best case, while the defendant offers to pay only a small part of its expected costs of defense. The proposals are extreme not because they are aggressive, but because they are untethered from any defensible assessment of litigation risk. The starting point is essentially a surreal demand.
Full article below:
Related Topics
Latest Insights
Stay Connected
Sign up to hear about upcoming events or to access information or recordings of past events and webinars.