Qualifications, Experience, and Guidelines
Mark’s experience as a mediator extends to commercial matters including energy, securities, contract, fraud, fiduciary duty, licensing, franchise, intellectual property, insurance coverage, professional liability, enforcement, and partnership disputes. He has also mediated personal injury, product liability, and toxic tort disputes. In 1990 he trained with five other Houston trial lawyers in the first group of local lawyers to learn and then to popularize today’s most common form of mediation. Since that time, he has mediated several hundred cases. Over the years Mark has attended numerous mediation workshops, seminars, and CLE presentations, including the Harvard Negotiation Workshop, from which he received its certification in 1994.
Mark has also gained perspective on the effective, efficient, and proper use of mediation through his experience as a frequent advocate in mediation. Based upon that experience the conduct of his mediations is today guided by four main principles:
- In mediation, as in other forms of ADR, there is no substitute for the highest level of energy, preparation, patience, and sound judgment by the neutral. With the agreement of counsel, Mark exercises more than routine diligence to understand the case at hand well before the mediation session, commonly meeting with counsel in person or communicating through telephonic or e-mail correspondence.
- Mark routinely requests more information and context than the standard form of mediation statement may provide. He encourages counsel to submit documentary or deposition discovery that are thought to bear importantly upon the case, together with copies of pending motions, expert reports, pertinent agreements, and any other materials that counsel believe will allow him to credibly address the parties’ claims and defenses at the mediation.
- Mark’s almost half a century of trial experience brings value in helping counsel and their clients achieve successful and satisfactory mediations. He does not presume that this experience positions him to speak with greater authority than counsel in the case about the possible outcomes at trial, but believes that an informed third-party perspective on the alternatives to settlement—when invited—is useful to both counsel and client.
- Mark believes that the mediation process should be structured and conducted in a manner agreed upon by the parties and their counsel, largely unrestricted by the mediator’s dictates or views. He acts in mediation as as a confidential evaluator and brings to the mediation session—and to any required follow-up communications—informed and relevant questions, insights, and experience that may help guide the parties toward a mutually acceptable settlement.
Fees
Fee for a one-day, two-party, mediation is $3,500 per party. This includes all aspects of preparation time (including pre-mediation conferences, whether by telephone or in-person) and an unlimited, one-day mediation session. Multiple parties represented by a single lawyer are treated as a single party for purposes of calculating the fee. For mediations conducted outside of Houston, additional charges are limited to the cost of transportation, lodging, and, when appropriate, a reasonable hourly fee for travel time. There are also alternative fee arrangements that include the utilization of an hourly fee in lieu of a traditional fixed fee, which range between $550 and $650 per hour. There is no charge for cancellation.