Practitioners Tell Why Real Practice System Checklists Are So Useful

Abstract

Following the rave reviews for the Real Practice System Menu of Mediation Checklists, I asked practitioners to describe how they might use them. Peter Benner, Graham Boyack, Gary Doernhoefer, Brian Farkas, Clare Fowler, Laura Kaster, Randy Kiser, Jim McGuire, Paul Monicatti, John Sturrock, Jeff Trueman, Tom Valenti, and two court mediators provided extremely thoughtful responses.

This article summarizes their ideas using excerpts from their responses. It illustrates how the checklists can help mediators carefully design their unique practice systems, starting from providing general information about their practices to engaging in self-assessments after cases – and everything in between. The checklists are designed for mediators to customize their individual checklists to reflect the kinds of cases and parties they work with and the procedures they find useful. Mediators can use the checklists throughout their careers to improve their skills through systematic reflection and participation in reflective practice groups.

Although the checklists are specifically designed for mediators, practitioners can use them in other roles such as advocates in mediation and negotiators in unmediated negotiations. Attorneys need to learn the context of their clients’ disputes, understand their intangible interests, consider possible resolutions in addition to lump-sump payments, analyze plausible outcomes if the parties do not settle their disputes, prepare their clients for mediation or negotiation, and help them make the best possible decisions in their cases. The checklists can help attorneys improve their skills and performance and thus improve their service to their clients.

The article also describes how the checklists can be used in teaching. They can be invaluable aids for students conducting interviews, counseling, negotiating, or mediating in real or simulated cases. The checklists include a long list of questions for debriefing the cases.

Lawyering, negotiation, mediation, and dispute resolution survey courses generally highlight the importance of the issues included in the checklists. In a concise document, these checklists provide much more extensive coverage than most courses have time to address.

Keywords: real practice systems, mediation, negotiation, mediation advocacy, checklist, preparation, interests, intangible interests, techniques, best alternative to a negotiated agreement, BATNA, dispute resolution, decision fatigue, decision making, drafting, self-assessment, reflective practice, teaching

JEL Classification: K40, K41