It’s mid-afternoon. Mediation has been dragging on for hours, and the clients are getting frustrated. Both parties feel as though they have been making good moves, but the other side is being unrealistic and unreasonable. The...more
Just as there are a myriad of real property interests, there can be disputes involving any of those interests. Controversies regarding rights and interests in property include circular priority among lienholders, boundary...more
In Kim v. Reins, the Supreme Court was faced with the following question: Do employees lose standing to pursue a PAGA claim if they settle and dismiss their individual claims for Labor Code violations? To the surprise of many...more
On March 12, 2020, the California Supreme Court in Kim v. Reins International California Inc. determined that an individual employee who released his individual claims nonetheless retained standing to pursue his claims under...more
This post is a continuation of the 10 most horrible, terrible, no good, “bang your head against the door” mistakes that I have seen lawyers make before, during and after mediations in which I was the mediator. As stated in...more
There were no significant changes in Vermont’s leadership team during the last election cycle. Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, was re-elected in November 2018 for another two-year term. Michael Pieciak, the Commissioner...more
Legal System - 1. Is your jurisdiction primarily a common law, civil law, customary law or theocratic law jurisdiction? Are the laws substantially derived from the laws of another jurisdiction and, if so, which? What...more
Mediation is the most widely used ADR approach today and has been for the past generation. In the course of becoming widespread it has also become predictable. It has become predictable that last month one party told me a...more