“Each of us is so much alike, & yet at the same time we are so different, & I have a feeling that if you encountered difficulty, and I with my age encountered the same difficulty, I would respond one way, & you would respond another. Neither would be right or wrong” — Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014), American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist…

I was supposed to be mediating a case today at the Philadelphia office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today. With the record-long government shutdown still in full effect, all mediations are canceled. The government shutdown does impact everyday people in addition to my colleagues at the EEOC who are not getting paid. About 70% of cases I mediate at the EEOC settle in the mediation. Let’s hope the government settles the shutdown dispute…

Many people confuse the difference between mediation and arbitration and in an NJ Supreme Court ruling this week, it cost a company who inserted what was purported to be a mandatory arbitration clause into a consumer agreement. In a nutshell, arbitration is a process whereby a private judge — the arbitrator — makes a decision, often binding, upon the disputants. In mediation, the parties come to a voluntary resolution (or not) with the help of the…

Arbitration is essentially hiring a private judge to make a decision in a dispute.  If the arbitration is binding, there are few grounds to appeal that award. Arbitration is a creation of contract.  Generally, all parties must agree to enter arbitration to resolve their dispute.  In fact, in NJ, the NJ Supreme Court has ruled that an arbitration clause must explicitly state that the parties may be giving up their rights to go to court. …