Dedicated to the belief that creative options for resolution lie within the parties, Rick seeks to help the parties build on those options, using decision analysis. As a trainer and consultant to litigators and mediators and as mediator himself, Rick helps parties determine how to assess the economic consequences of the uncertainty arising out of a failure to arrive at resolution.
Rick recognizes that parties and their counsel speak typically in general probabilistic terms about the future, stating, for example, "I think we have a very good chance of winning at trial." Rick helps the parties think about uncertain events, such as what could happen on a motion to dismiss or at trial, in systematically reasoned, carefully developed, probabilistic terms. Using those systematically developed estimates of the future, he helps the parties determine the monetary component of a resolution. Throughout the process he endeavors to foster an atmosphere of calm, reasoned decision making in which the parties work to achieve their own resolution with his help.
Rick believes that a mediated resolution of a lawsuit is almost always preferable to resolution through trial. Consequently, he approaches each mediation with a commitment to working tirelessly to help the parties achieve a resolution that avoids the need for trial.
In support of that commitment he applies the skills that he has acquired as a teacher, a social scientist, and a litigator in an effort to facilitate a process of creative problem solving in which the parties to a dispute are actively engaged.
