Stop treating mediation as a box to check—learn how to master the main event where your client's case is actually decided.
In the first installment of this series, Zach McGee provides an overview of the mediation process and explains why, for most civil litigators, mediation is the place where their cases are really going to be decided, and what that means for how you should prepare and perform.
This program covers the full life cycle of a civil mediation: why mediation has become the “main event” in modern litigation, how to decide when a case is ripe to mediate, how to select and work with a mediator, what to do in the critical weeks before the session so you and your client are truly ready, and what happens on a typical mediation day.
Along the way, Zach offers concrete guidance on mediation briefs, client counseling, negotiation sequencing, and the strategic use of tools like brackets and mediator’s proposals, as well as how to think about non-monetary terms that often make or break a deal.
The program closes with a practical set of dos and don'ts that you can use as a checklist before your next mediation, so you can approach the process as a core lawyering skill rather than a box to check on the way to trial.
Legal Technology & Education
New Media Legal Publishing, Inc. is a legal publishing company based in Los Angeles, California, that develops, produces, markets, and distributes innovative legal education content for law firms and companies. For more information about NMLP and its products, please visit http://www.newmedialegal.com .
Senior Vice President, Business Affairs, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Zach McGee is a Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles, where he negotiates distribution deals for feature films and television series. Before joining Sony Pictures, Zach held senior legal positions in-house at NBCUniversal and Miramax. Zach began his career as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He also worked as an associate at Davis Polk in New York, New York, and Menlo Park, California. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and he earned his Master's in Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Zach is also a successful entrepreneur and the founder of educational content companies within the legal field.
