Role of a Neutral - ADR Advocate

"[E]ndless battling depletes the spirit along with the purse."

                    Wilkie v. Robbins, 127 S. Ct. 2588, 2601 (2007).

"Discourage litigation. Persuade neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often the real loser -- in fees, expenses, and a waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of becoming a good [person]."

                    Abraha Lincoln, Notes for a law lecture, July 1, 1850

"At first people reuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done -- then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

"My joy was boundless. I had learnt the true practice of law. I had learnt to find the better side of human nature and to enter men's [sic] hearts. I realized that the true function of a lawyer is to unite parties riven asunder. The lesson was indelibly burnt into me that a large part of my time during the twenty years of my practice as a lawyer was occupied in bringing about private compromises of cases. I lost nothing thereby – not even money, certainly not my soul."

Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi

"The METAPHOR is perhaps one of man's most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him."

Jose Ortega y Gasset

Characteristics of a mediator:

1. The patience of Job.
2. The sincerity and bulldog characteristics of the English.
3. The wit of the Irish.
4. The physical endurance of a marathon runner.
5. The broken field dodging abilities of a halfback.
6. The guile of Machiavelli.
7. The personality-probing skills of a good psychiatrist.
8. The confidence-retaining characteristics of a mute.
9. The hide of a rhinoceros.
10. The wisdom of Solomon.
11. Demonstrated integrity and impartiality.
12. Basic knowledge and belief in the negotiation process.
13. Firm faith in voluntarism in contrast to dictation.
14. Fundamental belief in human values and potential, tempered by ability to assess personal weakness as well as strengths.
15. Hard-nosed ability to analyze what is available in contrast to what might be desirable.
16. Sufficient personal drive and ego, qualified by willingness to be self-effacing.

William E. Simkin & Nicholas A. Fidandis, "Mediation and the Dynamics of Collective Bargaining," 43 (1986)

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy."

19th-century prayer, attributed to St. Francis of Assisi