Lurie and Lack on “Guided Choice”
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The October 2014 issue of Dispute Resolution International (the journal of the Dispute Resolution Section of the IBA) features an excellent article by Chicago mediator/arbitrator/attorney Paul Lurie and Swiss/Israeli mediator/attorney Jeremy Lack on “Guided Choice Dispute Resolution Processes: Reducing the Time and Expense to Settlement.” As the title suggests, the logic of the piece stems from the fact that nearly all business disputes are resolved, and that savings are therefore best realized by reducing the time between commencement to resolution.
The starting point for the process that Lurie and Lack recommend is also refreshingly practical: They address disputes at the point of impasse, not at the point of emergence. We are dealing, after all, not with disagreements, but with disputes in which “the parties are deadlocked and unable to reach agreement.” After the threshold decision to engage a facilitator to assist, the first task of that neutral third party is to assist the parties in diagnosing why they were unable to resolve that matter themselves. In that process, “they key protagonists and the stakeholders can take a step back and gain a better mutual understanding of what underlies their past impasses, and how to adjust the settlement process to prevent and overcome further impediments to settlement.”
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