Solo and Small Firm
The Practitioner Summer 2018, Volume 24, Issue 3
Content
- An Update: Rules of Professional Conduct
- Attracting Your Ideal Client Without Breaking a Sweat or the Bank
- Congratulations to the 2018 Lawyer of the Year David Dai-Wung Fu
- Executive Committee of the Solo and Small Firm Law Section 2017-2018
- Letter From the Chair
- Letter From the Editor
- MCLE Article: Ethics and Social Media: a Critical Juncture
- Practical Podcasting For Professionals
- Table of Contents
- Your Next Mediation: Think It Through
- Mediating with Goliath
Mediating with Goliath
By Jeff Kichaven
Jeff Kichaven is an independent mediator with a nationwide practice, based in Los Angeles. He is "Ranked in Chambers USA 2018" as one of the very finest mediators in the country. He has also been named Best Lawyers’ "Best Mediation Attorney in Los Angeles" (2015) and "California Lawyer Attorney of the Year" in ADR (2006). He is an Honors Graduate of Harvard Law School (1980) and a Phi Beta Kappa Graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (1977). His views on mediation have been cited in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. While he has mediated nearly every sort of civil dispute in his 23-year ADR career, he has particular expertise in Intellectual Property, Insurance Coverage, and Professional Liability cases.
How can solos and small-firm lawyers—the Davids—ever get a fair shake in mediation against the Goliaths? Actually, it’s easy, and this article will explain how.
First, let’s ask, who are these "Goliaths" whom the solo and small-firm "Davids" fear? Are they your big-firm opposing counsel? The international corporations and insurance carriers you’re suing? No. If you’re well-prepared and conscientiously put your client’s interests ahead of your own, big-firm opposing counsel and their hoary clients won’t scare you.