Richard Harrison addresses some fundamentals of the mediation process
The last redoubt of oratory and rhetoric in legal practice is now to be found in the opening plenary sessions of mediation.
The emotional appeal to the jury to give the poor defendant a chance is now firmly in the past. The magnificent cadences of final speeches in civil claims are rarely heard.
But a day’s mediation is traditionally commenced by a roundtable get-together where the spokesperson for each party gets the chance to put the case at its absolute highest and tell the other side about how dreadfully they have been advised by their own lawyers. This is one chance to wheel out the old advocacy skills.
I have therefore set out to produce a uniform “one size fits all” speech for the busy mediation participant who wants maximum effect from minimum effort. Some may say this is indeed empty rhetoric: I could not possibly comment. I follow it up with a template address from the mediator on the physiological challenges of the day ahead.
Advocate’s effort
Advocate (looking opponent’s client directly
