1 / 8

Summary

Inside the Caucus: An Empirical Analysis of Mediation from Within Dan Klerman Lisa Klerman Quinnipiac-Yale Dispute Resolution Workshop September 27, 2013. Summary. Empirical study of mediation practice 400 employment related cases

pallaton
Download Presentation

Summary

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Inside the Caucus:An Empirical Analysis of Mediation from WithinDan KlermanLisa KlermanQuinnipiac-Yale Dispute Resolution WorkshopSeptember 27, 2013

  2. Summary • Empirical study of mediation practice • 400 employment related cases • Unique, because mediation and settlement negotiations are confidential • 94% overall settlement rate • Analyzed • Factors influencing settlement • Factors influencing settlement amount • Pattern of offers and counter-offers • Welcome suggestions • What else can do with these data? • What data should collect in future?

  3. Mediation Practice • Private • Consensual • Paid • Parties represented by lawyers • Los Angeles County • Employment disputes • Discrimination, Whistleblower, Wrongful termination • Class Actions • Usually one intense day • Evaluative and/or Facilitative • Average settlement amount: $176,210

  4. Factors Influencing Settlement Rate • 94% overall settlement rate • Class Actions: 85% • Plaintiff lawyer mixed practice: 87% • Pro-bono cases: 80% • Mediator’s Proposal: 99% • 98% settlement rate if four or more rounds of bargaining • No significant differences by • Plaintiff gender • Lawyer gender • Law firm size

  5. Bargaining • Plaintiff usually made the first offer • Parties start very far apart • On average, plaintiff’s first offer was 68 times higher than defendant’s first offer • Median rounds of bargaining: 4 • Mediator’s proposal in 89% of cases • If case settles without mediator’s proposal, plaintiff accepts defendant’s offer

  6. Settlement Amounts • Cases settle much closer to defendant’s opening offer • ¼ of difference between plaintiff’s and defendant’s first offer • E.g. if defendant’s first offer was 10K, and plaintiff’s first offer was 680K, then average settlement was 175K = 10K + 0.25 x (680K-10K) • Settlements closer to plaintiff’s initial offer if initial offers are closer • 1/3 if ratio of plaintiff to defendant’s offers is less than 15 • 16% if ratio is greater than 75 • Explicable if defendants’ offers are not significantly affected by plaintiffs’ offers • But some plaintiffs start with more realistic offers, while others “shoot the moon.” • Or explicable if plaintiffs’ offers are not much affected by defendants’ offers

  7. Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s Offers (Normalized)

  8. Conclusion • No significant gender differences • Mediation can be very successful • Parties settle, in spite of starting very far apart • Mediator’s proposal is most important technique • Caution about interpreting data • Cases are not random selection of all cases • Party strategies and mediator techniques are not randomly chosen • Further empirical work • What else could do with these data? • What data should collect in future cases?

More Related