We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day-whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. From the Harvard Negotiation Project, the organization

 that brought you Getting to Yes, Difficult Conversations provides a step-by-step approach to having th ose tough conversations with less stress and more success. you'll learn how to: 

· Decipher the underlying structure of every difficult conversation 
· Start a conversation without defensiveness 
· Listen for the meaning of what is not said 
· Stay balanced in the face of attacks and accusations
· Move from emotion to productive problem solving

The International Association of Mediators conference in Edinburgh last month provided a great opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from the application of a principled negotiation approach, as set out in 'Getting to Yes'. The conference benefited from the experience of over a hundred leading mediators from around twenty countries, along with policy makers and others who had put theory into practice. It also featured a major contribution from William Ury (one of the authors of the seminal work) who addressed delegates, Scotland's First Minister and members of the public in the Scottish Parliament.

This opportunity to reflect led me to try and compile a 'desert island discs' selection of some of the greatest hits from this growing body of work. For those unfamiliar with the format it involves choosing eight records you would rescue if shipwrecked on a desert island. The idea is that you are marooned there on your own, so William Ury's latest book 'Getting to yes with yourself' would probably be essential reading! My eight 'discs' would include:

While on the musical theme, the conference dinner involved a great contribution from Scottish jazz musicians Tom and Phil Bancroft. They reminded me of the value of improvisation when mediating to help parties get to yes. The beauty of the mediation process is that it has the flexibility to allow this improvisation, while providing a tune to return to should you begin to lose your way!

Click Here for Article on Kluwer Mediation Blog

In the e-discovery arena, mediation can be used either to create a mediated e-discovery plan or to resolve underlying disputes regarding electronically stored information. A skilled mediator who is knowledgeable about e-discovery can facilitate the negotiation and resolution of complicated e-discovery issues without judicial intervention. Further, by eliminating acrimonious discovery battles, mediating e-discovery disputes can also improve the prospect of settlement of the underlying litigation.

Who Should Participate? The success of any mediation depends upon the participation of those persons whose input or consent is needed to reach an agreement. This is certainly true of mediations of e-discovery disputes. In addition to the decision makers for the respective parties and litigation counsel, e-discovery mediations should include IT personnel or other technical consultants who have knowledge of the parties' electronically stored information systems. The participation of IT personnel and/or IT consultants who are familiar with the litigants' electronic systems and capabilities is key to successful e-discovery mediation.

Preparation for e-Discovery Mediation. Electronic information can take many forms, including active data, inactive data, metadata, deleted data, ghost data, legacy data, archived data, and back-up data. In advance of e-discovery mediation, it is imperative that counsel becomes familiar with the type of information stored and how it is stored, preserved, retrieved, and produced, as well as the cost of producing it. In addition, counsel should become familiar with the inventory of storage devices used by the client, the location and ownership of those devices, the client's retention policies, and any automatic deletion procedures that may need suspending. Counsel should also become familiar with the client's data mapping and systems mapping.