REPOST: Stuck In The Middle

Litigation and court cases can be arduous and costly for both parties. Before resorting to calling out their lawyers, Steven C. Bahls of Entrepreneur.com suggests that business owners turn to mediation.

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"See you in court!" yells the irate vendor just before slamming the door. The botched deal will cost both sides thousands of dollars to correct, and frustration has erupted into blame and anger. As you reach for the phone to call your lawyer, you think about the past lawsuits you've been embroiled in-hours of digging out documents for discovery, months of depositions and motions, stacks of briefs and counter-briefs, days of tension in court, thousands of dollars in legal fees, and all for what? There has to be a better way.

There is. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is growing nationwide, providing individuals and businesses with cheaper, faster ways to resolve disputes. The two major types of ADR are arbi-tration, in which parties hire private judges to decide their cases, and mediation, in which neutral parties help work out solutions. The number of ADR cases submitted to the American Arbitration Association grew from 95,143 in 1998 to 140,188 in 1999. Compare those figures to roughly 45,000 cases per year in the mid-1980s. The association's case load for mediation grew 17.5 percent from 1998 to 1999, reflecting the rate of growth in recent years.

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The growth may be because of increased recognition that mediation lets the parties involved control outcomes. In litigation and arbitration, outcomes are decided by arbitrators, judges or juries, whose actions can be unpredictable. Someone wins and someone loses.

In many cases, though, what's needed is for the two parties to bend a little. "Mediation leaves you in control of your settlement," says professor Kenneth Kandaras, director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at John Marshall Law School in Chicago. "You leave the mediation only if you're satisfied." That doesn't mean that sitting down with a mediator guarantees you'll get everything you want. Nor does it mean that you simply split the difference. "It pushes both sides to give up more than they'd like," Kandaras says. But you're the one deciding what to insist on and where you can bend.

"Business people recognize that mediation is a better alternative," says Toni L. Griffin, vice president for corporate communications for the American Arbitration Association. Griffin notes that while cases can take years to get through all the stages of litigation, mediations can literally be scheduled the next day. In more than 85 percent of the mediation cases filed, she says, the parties are able to reach settlements-and preserve their business relationships.

"Once you walk into court, you're finished," says Naomi Angel, an attorney with McBride, Baker and Coles in Chicago who represents trade and professional associations. Observing the rancor that builds during lawsuits is one thing that led Angel to start recommending mediation to clients and to seek the training needed to be a mediator herself. Many professional mediators are attorneys or former attorneys looking for more conciliatory ways to resolve problems. "Clients can feel they're still right in a moral sense without the need to be vindicated in court," Angel says. She acknowledges that people who've had to give up part of what they wanted in a mediation won't always walk out as buddies, but she says they may still be able to work together in the future.


Steven C. Bahls, dean of Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, teaches entrepreneurship law. Freelance writer Jane Easter Bahls specializes in business and legal topics.

How It Works

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Entrepreneurs do well to consider mediation for employment problems, commercial dixsputes and even negotiation with government agencies. Professor Barbara Fick of Notre Dame Law School, who teaches courses in ADR and labor law, notes that one of the key advantages of proposing mediation when you have a dispute with an employee is the opportunity to retain the employee. "You've already put a lot of time and money into training this person," Fick says. "Mediation can help you work through the issues, so you get a person who's happy and productive."

Prompt resolutions can make a difference in commercial cases. Lee Goodman, a professional mediator and arbitrator in Northbrook, Illinois, notes that business cycles are so short that by the time cases go to trial, products in question may have been redesigned or discontinued and employees involved may have left. Speedy mediations can resolve disputes while they're still relevant.

More and more frequently, citizens and businesses are using mediation to deal with government agencies, too. The Administrative Dispute Resolution Act, signed into law a decade ago, set out the framework for mediation in disputes with the federal government. State agencies have established similar procedures. Professor Philip Harter of Vermont Law School notes, for example, that when there's a problem with a government procurement contract, the normal procedure is to go through the Federal Board of Contract Appeals. "That's a mysterious, complex process," Harter says. "But now you can explain the circumstances and try to work it out through mediation." When government agencies propose new rules or are considering controversial permits, groups of businesses and citizens are now getting into the act from the start by negotiating with the agencies and, if talks reach impasses, moving to mediation.

Starting with negotiation makes sense for nearly all disputes. It's only when talks break down that you need mediators. "A good mediator focuses on why these people can't agree," says Fick. "Is it that they haven't formulated the real problem? Is someone digging in his heels? Do they not know how to negotiate?" When mediators do their jobs well, she says, the parties will have the skills they need to work it out next time.

In cases involving businesses, mediation participants must have the authority to make decisions on behalf of the companies. For smaller disputes and those in which people are still willing to talk to each other, mediators may sit down with people from both sides and simply help them talk things out. For bigger problems, each side is normally represented by an attorney, who helps gather documents, prepare the client and submit a premediation statement.

In a typical scenario, after opening statements by attorneys, the two parties typically adjourn to separate rooms. The mediator talks with one group, then the other, back and forth until they reach a resolution. While the conversation in each caucus is confidential, the mediator may ask permission to tell the other side what was said. When the parties reach an agreement that everyone can live with, the attorneys draft a preliminary agreement that both parties sign.

All this does cost money, whether you reach a resolution or not-maybe $100 to $250 per hour for the mediator's time and skill, or $800 to $1,000 per day. "Not every problem can be mediated, and some aren't worth the money," Fick says. But if the issue is escalating into a lawsuit, mediation costs are pocket change compared to court costs.

Fick also raises the question of public policy. "I think there's a problem when you privatize civil justice," she says. If major court cases involving discrimination, defective products and other matters of principle or precedent were quietly mediated, the public wouldn't be able to benefit from the court decisions or the changing laws that often follow. Then there's the question of abandoning the civil justice system because of the time and expense it involves. "If no one uses the public system, maybe we should fix the system," she says.

Maybe so, but people want alternatives in the meantime. One option is to draw up agreements that submit disputes to mediation, and if that doesn't work, to arbitration. The threat of third parties deciding issues can move both parties to work harder on compromises.

Be sure to choose a well-qualified, skilled mediator. Check with the American Arbitration Association, which posts bios of mediators on its Web site (www.adr.org); the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which focuses on employment disputes; private mediation companies; and local independent mediators. Some states even have certification programs. Ask other business owners for recommendations, and ask mediators how many cases they've mediated and who can offer references. If the other party in your dispute is willing to meet you at the mediator's office rather than see you in court, chances are, you'll both be better off.

Providing mediation services for a diverse clientele, Amero Acquisition Partners combines a well-trained knowledgeable staff with a commitment to excellence. Visit this website for more of the company and its services.

REPOST: 13 Tools for Resolving Conflict in the Workplace, with Customers and in Life

Conflict is an inevitable part of life. Those who accept this truism do so because they believe in the potential benefits of conflict in improving personal and professional relationships. The article below discusses the proper ways to resolve conflict and to cultivate a culture of peace inside and outside the office.

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Conflict happens. It is inevitable. It is going to happen whenever you have people with different expectations. This makes conflict management critical, whether avoiding arguments, disputes, lasting conflict or ultimately, litigation. Conflict can be avoided if steps are taken early in a discussion to diffuse anger and facilitate communication, and it can be resolved by applying a series of thoughtfully applied steps. As a full-time mediator and trainer in the fields of negotiation and conflict resolution, I see conflict in its final stages - full blown litigation or on the verge of it in pre-litigation mode. What I have learned in seeing these disputes for 10 years is that most of them could have been resolved in the earliest stages if the people involved applied some of the skills that mediators use to resolve conflict. And wouldn't it be great if companies could resolve these disputes before each side spent hundreds of thousands in litigation costs, before the employee was terminated or before the customer or working relationship was gone forever? Here are some tools for avoiding and resolving disputes in the early stages, before they become full-blown conflicts:


1. Stay Calm.


Thomas Jefferson said, "Nothing gives one so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." The thing that leads to conflict is escalation. What starts people escalating is their anger. Most of us stop listening to understand as we get angry. Instead, we start listening in order to argue back. Remaining calm is essential for performing these tools. To remain calm, it helps to look at the big picture. If you think about it, most every dispute gets resolved eventually. So when conflict inevitably happens, it is helpful to stop and think that, chances are, it is going to be resolved eventually. As such, why not begin problem solving now? Finally, it is a fact that in our busy lives with rush hour traffic, cell phones, PDAs, overfilled e-mail boxes, too many clients and not enough support, that we are all a little more stressed than we would like to be. When a conflict arises, one of the most beneficial things you can do is to ask yourself, "What might I be bringing to the dispute?" We can usually look at another person and figure that maybe he/she had a conflict at home or that he/she has been under tremendous pressure. However, we are not usually self-aware enough to ask ourselves what we might have going on. It is important in avoiding later embarrassment by checking in with our own personal boiling point before responding.


2. Listen to Understand.


Now, picture a dispute in which you were recently involved. Maybe it was this morning leaving the house, with a co-worker or client or even with a family member. As you replay that experience, ask yourself how much listening was going on. My bet is that any listening was only being done to formulate an argument back to prove your point. When most of us get into a dispute, the first thing we do is stop listening. The only way to settle a dispute or solve any kind of a problem is to listen carefully to what the other person is saying. Perhaps they will surprise you with reason, or their point is actually true. In the mediations that I do, I often learn what people's underlying interests are by letting them go on and on telling their perspective of an issue until they give me the one thing that is standing in the way of them resolving it. They may start out by degrading the product and personalizing it by saying those of us who delivered it are all incompetent, but I find that this is little more than their anger speaking. What they really want is their product fixed, not to insult us personally.


Psychologists tell us that anger is a secondary emotion and that it is usually triggered as a defense mechanism to cover up hurt or fear. When someone is angry, there is usually some hurt or fear that he/she is embarrassed about, or perhaps even unaware of because the anger is so all consuming. In order to diffuse people's anger, you must listen to them. Hear them out. Let them go until they have run out of gas. Let them vent as long as they can until they begin to calm down. You then will see a person start to slow down some, and begin to feel safe enough to finally tell you that what frustrated him or her so much was that the salesperson never returned any phone calls, and/or the customer service person kept trying to place blame elsewhere, rather than taking responsibility and apologizing for the product being unacceptable.


The best thing you can do to get people to the point where they are willing to show some vulnerability and trust you with some of the real reasons why they are upset is to engage in "Active Listening." Active listening means giving them active physical and verbal signs that you are with them and understand what they are saying. Simple things like nodding and saying, "Uh huh" or "OK, go on" can make the speaker feel as if his/her story is welcomed by you and that you want to continue. On the phone, people hear dead silence and cannot read your reaction to their complaints and thoughts. Given that we all sometimes fear the worst, people tend to shut down and stop feeling it is safe to continue telling their story.


My friend and colleague Jim Melamed, a divorce mediator and trainer based in Eugene, Ore., said: "You cannot effectively move toward conflict resolution until each participant experiences him/herself to be fully heard with regard to their perspective - what they want and why." That means, if someone says that the product he/she bought from you is unacceptable, and they are interrupted and asked what would be acceptable before they have finished telling all about the problem, that person gets the message that all you want to do is fix the problem. The impression is that you do not care about them or the problem you had with your product, and that can feel a little like being swept under the carpet. A good customer service person in a situation like this would let the client finish before asking if there were any other problems. This may seem counter-intuitive because it might bring on even more of the same, but this is what you want. People build trust as they are listened to. If they had another problem with the delivery timing or any other facet of the transaction, this is when you need to hear it - at the outset, not later once you feel as if you have met all of their original concerns. The only way to solve a problem is to get all of the broken pieces on the table at once before you begin trying to "glue it back together."


The most useful phrases in this part of the process (what mediators call the "Opening Statement") are questions such as, "Can I ask you - what about that bothered you so much?" or "What about that was so important to you?" These invite people to go deeper into the problem and tell you what the "real" problem is. Usually, this is where you hear that their boss is upset and they are afraid for their job or some underlying concern. This is a problem that might be handled with something as simple as a letter of apology, from you, the salesman or the president of your company, addressed to them with a copy to their boss, taking full responsibility and apologizing for the problem. Then, you will have a customer you might be able to keep.


3. Accentuate the Positive.


It is important to find some commonalities, or create them, between you and the person on the other end. It is helpful and empathetic to say, "Oh boy, I know what you are going through. I've had a similar situation just recently. Let me see what I can do about this." This serves to normalize the situation. It tells someone that he/she is not the only one who has gone through this and that his or her reaction to it is normal. That calms people right away.


4. State Your Case Tactfully.


The key here is to help people understand your perspective on things without making them defensive. To the extent you can disarm them, they will be more able to hear what you are really saying. A couple of tips are to own what is yours - apologize for what you or your team did wrong and do it first. This enables them to hear what you have to say next. Also, try not to state issues of difference as fact. Leave a little benefit of the doubt. Rather than insisting something arrived on schedule, it is better to acknowledge any room for doubt by acknowledging, "My information shows them arriving on schedule. I'll have to take a closer look into this." While you may still be right, clearly you have to gather more information to convince them of that, and if you are not right, then you do not have to apologize for misstating things. It also is helpful to state your position along with your interests. What that means is that instead of maintaining that there is nothing wrong with your product, which is purely argumentative and does not offer any support for your position, it is better to offer something helpful, such as providing another perspective by sending someone over to inspect the product in person. That way, the customer can show and describe exactly why the product is not working as necessary. Your position is the bottom line of what you are willing to do. Your interests are the reasons behind that decision. For example, it might be your position that you cannot take any product back or rescind the contract. However, your reason for that - your interest - may be that your bonus is tied directly to your returns, and that you have every incentive in the world to solve this problem another way. You may also offer what some of those things are, so that you are not just taking away something from them or denying their request, but offering positive alternatives in its place.


One way to do this is to use "I Messages." An "I" message sounds like, "When you didn't come home last night, your father and I got really worried. What we would like you to do next time is call if you're going to be late, so that we know you're OK because we love you and care about you." That is how most of our parents were when we were teenagers, right? Seriously, can you imagine how we would have reacted if they had put it this way instead of the scenario we remember of being grounded for life while stomping off to bed? "I" messages are important because they describe the experience through the speaker's eyes, rather than simply the position (in this case the punishment). That disarms the person you are speaking to, and it takes the fight out of their next statement back to you.

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5. Attack the Problem, Not the Person.


Your points will be heard more clearly if you can depersonalize your comments and point only at the issue. Rather than accusing people of "always messing things up," it is better to say, "We'll have to take a closer look at why this keeps happening." In most statements that we make in a dispute, we are fighting with our own anger and are tempted to put a zinger into the point we are trying to get across. You will be heard better and improve your chances of resolving the issue the way you want if you can catch yourself and take the zinger out. Obviously, this is easier with e-mail and requires great concentration when in a face-to-face disagreement.


6. Avoid the Blame Game.


Assigning blame is only helpful in one instance in problem solving - if you assign it to yourself. Generally speaking, figuring out whose fault something is does not do any good if the goal is to fix a problem. It is a diversion and sometimes a costly one because if a person feels blamed, he/she often checks out of a conversation. The trick to resolving clashes is to focus on problem solving, rather than pointing fingers. Focus on what you and the others can do to solve a problem and make it better, and it will be behind you before you know it.


7. Focus on the Future, Not the Past.


In the past tense, we have the purchase order, the contract, the agreement and the deal as it was understood by all involved. The present and future tenses are where the solution ends. Rather than focusing on what went wrong or who should have done what, the secret to dispute resolution is to treat it like problem solving and focus on what can be done to resolve the problem. Once that is done, companies can look to the past tense to analyze what went wrong and how to improve quality control and efficiency. However, when there is a problem that has an angry customer or a disgruntled employee, the solution is all that anyone is interested in.


8. Ask the Right Kind of Questions.


Questions such as "Why is that?" or "What did you think it would be?" make a person who you are talking to defensive. They inherently question the person's judgment or opinion, as well as coming off as curt. More often that not, people ask these short, direct questions, the type that can sound like a police officer's interrogation or a lawyer's cross-examination. These questions are designed to get just what you want from someone, rather than to permit them to tell you what they want you to know about something.If you want someone to answer you with real information, rather than just arguing back, it is best to give them a little information first. For example, "Since I don't have a copy of the P.O. in front of me, it would help me to investigate this if you could tell me more about how the colors on your order are described." Telling them why you are asking, puts your intent first, so they don't have to guess it. This questioning style tells a person that you are trying to do your job and to figure out some facts to get to reach a solution. By delivering your request in a poised and attentive tone, , it makes the person you are asking less defensive and gets you more of what you want. The other type of question that is especially helpful when you are trying to gather information is an open-ended question. These are the opposite of directive questions, and they invite the other person to tell you what he or she thinks is important about the situation. "Can you tell me what happened from the beginning?" or "Sounds as if this was really frustrating for you" can give you information that you might later use to problem solve.


9. Pick Your Battles.



It is also important when asking questions to remember to Pick Your Battles. Human nature makes us want to be right, even to the point of being defensive or arguing points that do not matter in the big picture. It is even fair game to ask the other person, "On a scale of one-to-10, how important is this issue to you?" If an issue is a five to you and a nine to the person you are talking to, it is best to give that point up and use the same scale when an item is really important to you. After all, business relations are, like my brother's future father-in-law once told him about marriage, a "60-60 proposition." Most people think it is supposed to be 50-50, but the truth is, when adjusted for each person's perspective on how much they givevs. how much they receive, it really is a 60-60 proposition. Another marital proposition is also helpful here, do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

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10. Link Offers.


Car salesmen do this all the time. They ask you what you want your monthly payment to be and then set the price of the car and the interest rate on the loan or lease so that they can match your monthly payment. Essentially, it's a way of saying, "I can either do this or that, which would be better for you?" It really is just sales skills - giving people the choice between two positives, so that they feel as if you are trying to help.


11. Be Creative.


Brainstorm. Remember that everything is negotiable. Feel free to think outside of the box in order to expand the pie. Make it so that no idea is too far fetched. Being creative with resolutions takes longer, but can yield a true win-win solution. The best solution to a dispute is to get more business out of it. As such, one common problem-solving technique is to propose that instead of a cash refund, giving clients a deep discount on future orders in order to show what a good job you are capable of doing for them. Many of the lawsuits I settle come away with win-win solutions, where instead of just compromising, we actually collaborate to reach a solution that benefits everyone. This requires listening when asking the open-ended questions and gathering morsels of good information that you will later use to formulate proposals that meet their interests. For example, you might learn about particulars that affected an order. From here, you can propose creative solutions that replace things such as broken items, or instead of using the money to re-do the entire order, you can use less money to ship a few dozen shirts with their logo on them so that your counterpart can look like a hero in front of the boss. These kinds of fixes make clients look good and keep them loyal to you, even after an initial dispute.


12. Be Confident.


You can do this! Many people are afraid of confrontation and shy away from it. I have taught everyone, from housewives and high school grads to named senior partners in law firms and CEOs, how to do these simple steps. The process works. All you have to do is follow the steps.


Furthermore, you must do this. Now that you have these tools, it is imperative that you do something about it. You owe it to your customers and your co-workers.


13. Celebrate Agreement!


This kind of negotiation is a hard process. It requires two people to remain in an uncomfortable, potentially confrontational position for a long time to rebuild trust and be creative while trying to figure out the best, rather than the fastest, solution. Once it is accomplished, both you and the person you are talking to deserve a good pat on the back. There is nothing wrong with going to lunch or dinner to celebrate the resolution of a dispute that could have been destructive, but that ended with a win-win solution where everyone was satisfied. This is an important process for avoiding more serious disputes such as lawsuits and losing hard-earned customers. Congratulate yourself and your partner in this solution. After all, nothing is more important than your company and its survival. Nothing is better for your company's survival than learning to make peace and resolve the inevitable disputes that will arise. Learn to cultivate peace with customers, suppliers, employees, labor and management.


Utilizing these tools takes patience and generally requires changing old behaviors. However, if people on the front lines, in human resources, customer service and client relations, use simple tools such as these, they would resolve most disputes at that level, keeping them out of the legal department and out of the mediator's office.

Amero Partners provides expert mediation assistance to clients involved in various organizational issues like employee relations. Visit this website to learn more about the efficient conflict resolution methods and tools.

REPOST: How Mediation Can Help Resolve a Technology Dispute

Resolving disputes via legal arbitration can be costly, tedious, and extremely stressful for all parties involved. This article on HuffPost Tech UK explains why there are definite benefits to pursuing a mediated settlement out of court, especially for parties with technology and intellectual property rights issues.

Commercial conflict is an unpleasant fact of business life. Previously secure relationships can break down when commercial interests start to diverge. Relationships may end amid mutual recriminations. Competitors may raise claims of intellectual property rights infringement or other unlawful interference with their contractual relations.

 

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But anyone who has any experience of litigation will know that it is rarely the ideal way to resolve such disputes. Court action can be time-consuming, expensive and an unwelcome distraction to the business. The outcome can be inherently uncertain, and may put off potential investors in the business until it is resolved. It can significantly disrupt business operations if key executives are tied up dealing with lawyers. Intrusive and burdensome document collection exercises may be required in the course of disclosure. And litigation can involve an unwelcome degree of public exposure and reputation management. Finally, if there was any chance of salvaging a business relationship before Court proceedings are commenced, you can generally kiss that chance goodbye as soon as legal papers are served.

There are a variety of alternative dispute resolution procedures out there that parties are encouraged to consider by the Courts. Indeed if they do not give due consideration to these options they may be penalised by the award of an unfavourable costs order. The alternatives include arbitration and expert determination, but these both involve putting the outcome of the dispute in the hands of a third-party arbitrator or expert to make a decision that will bind both parties. If you want a truly consensual alternative to litigation, then you may want to consider mediation.

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So how does it work? The format of the mediation is open to the parties to agree, but usually it takes the following form. The parties will agree on a choice of independent mediator, or in default of agreement will usually agree to use an approved industry body to appoint one. The parties will exchange briefing papers before the mediation, setting out the relevant facts of the dispute and the positions of the parties. The mediation itself will usually begin with an initial roundtable meeting chaired by the independent mediator where both parties may make opening statements. The parties will then break out to separate rooms, and the mediator will shuttle between them trying to broker a settlement.

 

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It may take all day (and sometimes all night) but more often than not the mediator is successful. This may be because the very fact that parties have agreed to mediate in the first place means a settlement is more likely. It may be because if you sit senior executives in a room for long enough they will want to do a deal just so they can escape. But whatever the reason, mediation works. Talk to any mediator and they will be justifiably proud of their success rate.

Mediation is cheaper than litigation, more flexible in terms of the range of outcomes open to the parties to agree and it's confidential. What's not to like?

With offices in Rancho Cucamonga, California, Amero Partners provides mediation assistance to help clients and businesses find solutions to disputes and financial issues. For more information on the company and its services, visit this website.

REPOST: Apple-Samsung Mediation Deadline Is Going, Going …

Corporate giants settle conflicts though mediation. But in the case of Apple and Samsung that have been clamoring on patent issues for years, it looks like the settlement is far from a done deal. The Wall Street Journal reports that despite legal orders for the two companies to meet by February 19 to discuss mediation, no agreement has yet been made. Thus, they will continue to fight in global courts. Their legal battle is probably one of the toughest mediation challenges in history. 

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As the deadline for mediation talks between the chief executives of AppleAAPL -0.27% and Samsung Electronics005930.SE 0.00% nears without an agreement, it appears the two companies will be back in court next month.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, who has presided over most of the legal battles between the two companies in the U.S., ordered the chief executives of Samsung and Apple to meet by Feb. 19 to discuss mediation. The two sides were ordered to submit a proposal for mediation ahead of facing off again in a trial slated to start March 31.

Last week, Korean media reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung’s mobile chief and co-CEO J.K. Shin met earlier this month for talks but the discussion failed to reach an agreement. Both Apple and Samsung declined to comment on those reports.

It would come as no surprise if the talks failed to bear fruit. In the past, the two companies have met to discuss mediation, but the talks did little to bridge the divide. While both sides have said they want an amicable settlement, the animosity between the companies made the chances of a successful mediation unlikely.

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Without an agreement, Apple and Samsung will continue to fight it out in global courts over patent infringement, a battle that began when Apple first sued Samsung in 2011. So far, Apple has gotten the better of it. In a high-profile U.S. case, a federal jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple a combined $930 million for infringing Apple’s intellectual property.

The March trial between the two companies involves a different set of Apple patents used in more recent Samsung products such as the Galaxy S III smartphone. Since the coming trial involves newer products that were bigger sellers, industry experts say there is a possibility of an even larger damages award if Samsung is found to have infringed Apple’s patents.

Samsung has countersued Apple over patents, and that trial is expected to start next year.

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Amero Partners is a client mediation firm that provides specialized customer service solutions for diverse clientele. Follow this Twitter page for the latest news and updates on mediation.

Unequal rights: Employee relations mistakes every manager must avoid

In an ideal company, tension does not exist between employee and employer as management is fully aware of the strengths and limitations of their employees, trusting their employees with certain degree of autonomy in the way they carry out their work. However, reality is hardly the desired ideal environment, and employee-manager relations are often rife with intrigue and office politics that they may prompt employers to make decisions that may be prejudiced against their workers.

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Most employee relations mistakes boil down to basic issues such as the lack of trust in employees’ capabilities, the lack of respect for employees’ personal and legal rights, and disregard for employment conditions. And these arise in a number of situations including:

Playing favorites – When employers apply a different set of standards to certain employees or limit the growth opportunities for some, a work environment filled with jealousy and resentment is likely to emerge. Employers must be conscious of any preference for certain employees.

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Ignoring labor laws and employee rights – Employees are protected by the law against issues such as wrongful termination, workplace discrimination, and harassment. Disregard for labor laws breeds not only employee contempt but also possible legal dilemma for employees.

Failing to show appreciation – Employees are part of the company’s success and failing to recognize their contribution could result to low morale and job dissatisfaction. Employers should provide regular feedback to their employees for their hard work to keep them motivated to perform well.

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Amero Partners provides strategic solutions to clients that need expert counsel on various business issues including employee relations. Visit this website to learn how the company helps efficiently resolve various business concerns.

REPOST: Mediation can help keep debtors out of the courtroom

Patrick McNamara elaborates on the Arizona Daily Star the important role of mediation in helping debtors avoid lawsuits, maintain control of their decision-making, and prevent them from receiving negative marks on credit reports. Read his full article below. 

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The country’s consumption-centric culture fuels much of our economic engine.

But that drive to buy, on full display on days like Black Friday, also causes the accumulation of mountains of consumer debt, which if unpaid starts a cycle that often ends up in a courtroom somewhere.

It happens often enough that one Pima County judge has sought a less litigious way to resolve debt-collection issues that benefits both debtor and creditors and helps minimize the backlog of cases in the court.

 Creditors have to find ways to collect on those back bills. It might start with calls from collection agencies, but very often creditors resort to the courts to get their due.

“Mediation allows people to maintain control of the decision making,” said Anne Fisher Segal, a Pima County Justice Court judge.

Segal has been promoting mediation as an alternative to lawsuits in all the debt-related cases in her courtroom.

She said the process allows creditors and debtors to come together in a neutral setting to discuss possible solutions to outstanding debts.

Since 2012, about 60 cases on Segal’s calendar have been resolved through mediation.

To get the process started, Segal said the first thing a person should do when served with a legal complaint notifying them of a lawsuit is to answer the complaint.

Any form of answer will do — from a formal document written in appropriate legalese to a hand-written letter, Segal said.

This lets the court know a person has received notification of the lawsuit. Justice court, which hears cases where $10,000 or less is at stake, has form documents online and at the court to help defendants file answers. They can be found at www.jp.pima.gov/home.htm

More importantly, for debtors at least, filing an answer stops the clock from ticking before a creditor can request a default judgment.

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A creditor can seek the default judgment if a complaint goes unanswered for 20 days. After that, the debtor receives notification of the request and gets 10 more days to answer before a judge can award the judgment.

“It’s a tool that’s used a lot by lawyers, and it may not be as understandable to the nonrepresented litigant,” Segal said of such requests for judgments.

For the debtor, however, default judgment signifies the start of an aggressive collection process that can result in wage garnishment and seizure of all but $300 of the debtor’s bank accounts.

Mediation as alternative to lawsuits also can prevent a consumer from receiving negative marks on credit reports.

For a debtor who requests mediation, the benefits of mediation can be substantial. Consider credit-card debt, for instance, a debt category that accounts for much of the caseload in justice court.

With these debts, many times the holder of the debt isn’t the original creditor. Federal regulations require banking institutions to get outstanding credit-card debt off their books after 180 days of delinquency.

The banks often resort to selling that debt to companies that seek to collect. That debt often changes hand numerous times before the final holder ever moves to collect.

 “They generally have some negotiation room,” Suzanne Matthews said. Matthews is a retired lawyer from Texas now living in Tucson who volunteers as a mediator in Segal’s courtroom.

She said the creditors often show a willingness to work with debtors in collections cases, particularly in credit-card debt cases, because the debt usually was purchased for a fraction of the face value.

In addition, the mediation takes place in a confidential, impartial forum. Discussions held during mediation remain private between the two parties and do not become part of the court record.

As a mediator, Matthews said she’s not there to hand out legal advice. Instead, a mediator facilitates the negotiations with the goal of reaching an agreement.

Through the mediation process, creditors might agree to scheduled payment plans and in some cases agree to reduce settlement amounts.

Of course, agreements made through mediation do carry the force of law.

Just as with any contract, if a participant doesn’t meet the agreed-upon obligations, legal action can result.

Charles Whitehill, a retired lawyer who represented creditors in debt collections, said he always tried to help debtors find amicable agreements, often through mediation, to solve debt issues.

“I never had a debtor walk out of my office mad at me,” Whitehill said.

Whitehill practiced law in Tucson for decades starting in the 1950s. He worked in bankruptcies and business law and represented creditors like department stores and other retailers.

“People like to be treated like people, not like numbers,” he said.

That’s the whole point — treating people with fairness and attempting to make the legal system less intimidating, Segal said.

“Don’t be afraid of the legal system,” she said. “We don’t have debtors prisons.”

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Amero Partners is a team of financial experts that provides mediation and financial advice to diverse clients. Follow this Twitter account for the latest news and updates in the financial industry.

REPOST: Seven Things CEOs Need To Know About The 'Crowd'

The 'crowd economy' serves as a democratized channel of financial flows. This Forbes article discusses the ways entrepreneurs could strategically monetize the ‘power of the crowd’ and use it to their advantage.

Image Source: forbes.com

The crowd: you’ve probably already heard about this unnamed mass disrupting business models, changing work paradigms and even changing the way we find soon-to-be superstars (I’m talking about you, American Idol, Project Runway and The Voice). Companies incorporating the crowd into their business models are in vogue, and we’ve been seeing investors spend big bucks on businesses powering the crowd economy for the past year.

But just what should CEOs and business owners know about the crowd? Will it significantly change startups as we know them in the long run? Will it help large companies tap mass markets? Or is it only relevant for small businesses or tech startups that want to crowdfund capital?

Let’s separate the hype and realities of crowd-based funding, sourcing, and lending, and identify what you should focus on in order to participate in the crowd economy today:

1. You can put the crowd to work for free (and the crowd may even pay you for the opportunity). The beauty and power of the crowd economy is that anyone can participate — and in the right situations, the crowd will work for nothing. Wikipedia has enlisted the help of professors and universities to help maintain and update articles on their site. Simon Cowell created an entire business industry around crowdsourcing talent discovery with American Idol and the X-Factor. He’s not just making money from the discovery process either — he’s also raking it in through promotion and the eventual success of the artists (he ultimately gets paid by the customers that help select the artist).
2. You can pick who and what you want — since the crowd now has a reputation. With all kinds of information is readily available on the Internet, the crowd is no longer one type of person. Airbnb built an entire business around the concept of everyday people renting empty spaces in their homes to total strangers. By sharing the information about their listings, availabilities, and reputations, they were able to monetize and become a thriving business. That’s not all the Internet does. Need market research? Look no further than Mechanical Turk, Google Research, or UserTesting. Hiring? AngelList lets you ask your friends for referrals and give them a bonus if they find you a candidate.
3. You can access global talent and resources right from your desk chair. Just the other day I ordered a pair of shoes on eBay. They were shipped to me directly from Shenzen, China. The crowd doesn’t operate exclusively in the U.S. — and that’s a good thing. Aside from purchasing physical goods from the crowd (eBay, Etsy), you can also hire freelancers to work from across the country on sites like oDesk, Elance, and 99 Designs. Screen and hire quality, affordable contractors for your business, all without leaving your chair.
4. You can also access local and hyperlocal talent and resources. Sure, the crowd is global — but it is also extremely local and mobile. Companies like Gigwalk and Taskrabbit built their business around crowdsourcing errands for busy people — from picking up dog food to doing store-to-store product research. Especially in such a tough economy, the freelance economy is booming. Your local neighbors will jump at the chance to make some cash and simplify your life. Companies like Zaarly (disclosure: I founded it) have spawned a new generation of entrepreneurs by helping people make money doing what they love. Sometimes you just need to explore your local community to find what you need—and the crowd is making that easy.

• You can ask for a loan from your friends (or millions of strangers). Crowdlending already exists (and has for a while), and business is booming. According to LendingClub, they have funded over 100,000 loans for more than $1.3 billion. That comes out to almost $120 million in interest paid to investors. With those kinds of numbers, it’s only a matter of time before we see a company that is focused exclusively on helping crowdlend business loans (for now, Lending Club does offer certain business loans).

• You can sell products and services that don’t yet exist. Sites like Kickstarter don’t yet let you sell equity or a stake in your company to the crowd, but they do let you pre-sell your business products and services. You can pre-sell millions of dollars’ worth of product if your campaign hits the right nerve (and it’s a great way to test a concept before you ever spend a dime on product development).

• The SEC is making strides to allow for equity-based crowdfunding. Today, your company can use certain provisions of the 2012 JOBS Act to advertise to accredited investors (individuals with a net worth over $1 million) on platforms like AngelList or WeFunder, essentially allowing you to sell a portion of the company (and its future returns) to the crowd. Soon enough, experts expect the SEC to implement crowdfunding for the masses – allowing everyday individuals to invest in anything from a local restaurant to a high-growth startup. We are still waiting for those rulings as of September 2013, but with any luck you’ll soon be able to ask anyone in the crowd to help fund your business (for now, you’re limited to accredited investors — be sure to ask your lawyer to help if you have questions).

The crowd might have been introduced in 2012, but I believe it’s just starting to take off now. Can your business save money through the crowd? Are there ideas, product features or promotions that can be crowd-powered? Do new funding mechanisms, from Kickstarter and Indiegogo to Lending Club and AngelList, offer a unique model for your business? In the near future, playing to the crowd might be just the ticket for your business.

Amero Acquisition Partners provides business mediation services through a solution-focused approach to optimize cooperation among clients and help them achieve their preferred future. Visit this website to learn how the company helps hard-pressed businesses efficiently resolve highly specialized cases.