Hon. John P. DiBlasi (Ret.) Invited To Participate in the NYSBA's Mediation Advocacy Program

CLE Events | Event Date: Three separate days - Thursday, April 29, Thursday, May 6 and Thursday, May 20, 2021

Hon. John P. DiBlasi, J.S.C. Hearing Officer for NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation) with name written under picture

New York, NY (April 8, 2021) – NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation), one of the nation's leading providers of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services, is pleased to announce that Hon. John P. DiBlasi (Ret.) has been invited by the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) to participate in its Mediation Advocacy program. The three-part webinar CLE series will provide practical strategies and techniques for successful client advocacy in mediation. The program will be held on three separate days – Thursday, April 29th, Thursday, May 6th and Thursday, May 20th. All sessions will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. ET. This program is sponsored by the NYSBA Subcommittee on Mediation Advocacy for Practitioners of the Dispute Resolution Section. 

Judge DiBlasi will be joined by a faculty of experienced lawyer-mediators who will share their insights and offer practice tips for effective mediation, demonstrating the lawyering skills that are most likely to obtain better client outcomes but differ from what works in trial advocacy. The program is intended for litigation attorneys who are both new to and experienced with mediation as a dispute-resolution process. Judge DiBlasi will present on the panel for Parts 2 and 3.

  • Part One: Preparing for Mediation: Your Clients and Yourself
  • Part Two: Effective Mediation Advocacy – Key Skills for Lawyers at the Bargaining Table
  • Part Three: Closing the Deal – Overcoming Apparent Impasses in a Mediation

Part Two of a Three-Part Series:

Part 2, Effective Mediation Advocacy – Key Skills for Lawyers at the Bargaining Table, will address the roles of the lawyer, client, and mediator at the mediation and how attorneys can help shift the focus of mediation from posturing over positions to the development of outcomes that serve the interests of all parties.  Examples will be provided of ways for lawyers to facilitate a productive dispute resolution process even in the face of oppositional conduct of the other side and to work with the mediator to achieve outcomes more consonant with their client's interests than continued litigation, whether and how to make initial statements at the mediation session, and ways to conduct themselves whether in joint session or caucuses.      

Joining Judge DiBlasi on the panel will be Leslie A. Berkoff, Partner, Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP; Ross J. Kartez, Associate, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek PC; Michele Kern-Rappy, Senior Mediator and Senior Settlement Coordinator, New York Supreme Court; and Michael Starr, Michael Starr Mediation Services.

To register for Part 2 please click here

Part Three of a Three-Part Series:

Part 3, Closing the Deal – Overcoming Apparent Impasses in a Mediation, will address methods for redefining the issues, workable alternatives, and creative agreements to assist counsel and the parties to work through apparent impasses. The panel will address risk analysis to systematically assess the value to the client of the proposed resolutions, how to engage the mediator to foster outcomes more favorable to the lawyer's client, the advisability and use of common impasse-breaking techniques (such, as a “mediator's proposal”) and whether additional or continued mediation sessions are advised to reach a successful outcome.  

Joining Judge DiBlasi on the panel will be Leslie A. Berkoff, Partner, Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP; Speaker: Jennifer Lupo, Managing Member of Lupo Law, Arbitration and Mediation PLLC; Michele Kern-Rappy, Senior Mediator and Senior Settlement Coordinator, New York Supreme Court; and Michael Starr, Michael Starr Mediation Services.

To register for Part 3 please click here

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The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has been the voice of the legal profession in New York state for more than 140 years.

Meet Hon. John P. DiBlasi (Ret.)