“The Understanding Based Model of Mediation,” from The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Executive Education

In 1994, the United States District Court for the District of Vermont adopted an Early Neutral Evaluation program. It required that nearly every civil case on its docket be “evaluated” before being set for trial. I was fortunate to be Read More …

COVID-19 and Jury Trials: “It Ain’t Over ‘Till It’s Over”

Last week I testified before the judiciary Committee of the Vermont House of Representatives on H. 417, a bill that would reduce the size of juries in civil cases in Vermont from 12 to 6 members. The impetus of the Read More …

Don’t Forget to Educate Your Clients About the Attorney-Client Privilege

In our practice we see lots of new clients. We are particularly sensitive to the attorney-client privilege issues because many of them communicate with us about employment problems. For employees, it often true that just consulting an attorney may have Read More …

When a Client Complains, Be Grateful!

Complaints are Opportunities I read Lee Rosen’s email newsletter, Friday File. It’s a great place for practical advice on how to run a law practice. You can subscribe here. In a recent edition, Lee described a traumatic experience with his Read More …

Happy Thanksgiving!

As a profession, we have much to be grateful for. Of course, we have the opportunity to earn a living, often a good one. But more significant, from my perspective, is this: If we choose to do it, we can use our skills to be of real service to others, and that’s an unusually rewarding opportunity.
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Update: How do we Resume Civil Jury Trials in Vermont

Here is more on that federal criminal trial described in my September 28, 2020 Post: How do we Resume Jury Trials in Vermont It’s based on remarks made by Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey Crawford today at a Federal Read More …

Remembering the Honorable Robert W. Larrow

“Have a great weekend, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and call if you need bail.” Read More …

How do we Resume Civil Jury Trials in the Vermont Courts?

We have no doubt, the ‘right of trial by jury’ spoken of in the constitution, and which it is said “ought to be held sacred,” means a jury as at common law, which consists of twelve men, and that wherever a constitution guaranties ‘the right of trial by jury,’ it is not competent for a legislature to reduce that number to six, or any less number than twelve; for the very theory of a trial by jury requires the unanimous consent of twelve men to the verdict.
Lincoln v. Smith, 27 Vt. 328, 358-9 (1855) (emphasis added).
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Think you Know all There is to Know About Negotiating? Think Again!

If there is one thing that almost all lawyers do, it is negotiate. Business lawyers do it. Litigators do it do it. Real estate lawyers do it. I suspect that even patent lawyers do it. Most of us think we Read More …