As published in TIPS (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice) Committee News, ABA

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

This article is part two of a two-part summary of an interview with four veteran court reporters who met with the author to discuss what they really think about the courtroom, judges, and lawyers. For ease of reading, and because all four agreed to talk so long as they were not identified by name, Judge Panter has combined their comments, but all the quoted text came from one of the court reporters.

Common Courtesy

Some of the complaints from the panel had to do with issues of common courtesy—acknowledging the court reporter as a person in the courtroom or conference room, asking after their needs, and treating reporters like professionals.

As published in TIPS (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice) Committee News, ABA

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

Four of my veteran court reporters met to discuss what they really think about the courtroom, judges and lawyers. They didn’t hold back! 

Below is a summary of our interview. For ease of reading, and because all four agreed to talk so long as they weren’t identified by name, I’ve com-bined their comments—but all the quoted text was said by one of them. 

We began talking about what directly impacts a court reporter’s ability to create a record.

As published in TIPS (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice) Committee News, ABA

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
Can a plaintiff get “full value” at mediation? Some lawyers say no. They say that a full value offer can come only after trial starts, sometimes after a few witnesses.


They’re right . . . in a way. Most defendants are not going to pay at mediation what they might pay at trial, provided everything goes right for plaintiff.

​As published in The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Also published in TIPS (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice) Committee News, ABA, Spring 2017 Issue as Voir dire don'ts

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

At our mediations, we talk a lot about juries.

What a jury is likely to do with a case, and how jurors would react to particular issues and witnesses, are constant considerations. That’s how we determine case value.

Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, Winter 2017 

Deborah Greenspan, Fredric Brooks, Michael Panter, and Jonathan Walton

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

This article addresses recent developments in Alternative Dispute Resolution.

At the forefront of hot topics during the past year sits the ongoing debate over provisions mandating individualized arbitration in disputes arising out of consumer contracts and employment agreements. Such provisions often do not just require arbitration, but also may explicitly (or be found to implicitly) prohibit the use of class or collective action, either in court or in an arbitration provision. This article discusses developments in the case law and in actions taken by federal agencies that address the explosive growth in the use of such provisions. How these issues will play out in the courts and in the context of the changing political landscape is yet to be known.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Read More

As published in The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Also published in TIPS Commercial & Business Litigation, ABA, Summer 2017 issue as Vito Corleone’s Guide to Negotiation.

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

Revenge is sweet. Sweets are not healthy for us, but they taste so darn good. That’s why we watch so many revenge movies which feel so wonderfully delicious.

I’m not the first to think that movies are a great way to illustrate mediation concepts. We can name tons of movies about fighting to get what you want. We’ve all seen movies that show one side exerting power over another. That’s what we all dream of: bending others to our will.