Many mediation skills come naturally, but others come with training, experience and feedback.
Training. Paul continues to hone his skills with programs like AAA Advanced Training on "Managing the Dynamics of a Multi-Party Case" and with participation in leading ADR groups.
Experience. Paul has mediated hundreds of major coverage disputes of all types in over a dozen states and under a multitude of jurisdictions' laws. Each mediation is a teacher.
Feedback. Paul is grateful that counsel on both sides of the coverage docket commend him for mediation skills and seek him out to mediate their disputes. Nationwide references available on request.
Paul is a "Distinguished Fellow" and Past President of the prestigious International Academy of Mediators. In addition, Chambers USA rates Paul as "Band 1" in Insurance ADR. He is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and 1 of only 105 US mediators listed in British-based Who's Who Legal: Mediation. He has authored many articles on coverage mediations, including "The Art of Mediation of Coverage Disputes" published by the American Bar Association [download here] and is a frequent speaker at national programs on settling coverage disputes.
Paul's background gives parties confidence that he understands the issues (so they pursue settlement instead of educating a mediator) and that their positions are intelligently conveyed and challenged.
He understands insurance. Before becoming a neutral, Paul tried cases seeking and opposing coverage and dealt with a wide-range of issues and policies. His hundreds of coverage mediations and arbitrations as a neutral have exposed him to even more. Paul has been a leader in the national coverage bar and is repeatedly listed in "Best Lawyers in America®" in Mediation and in Insurance Law, and as a "Super Lawyer®” honoree in both Insurance Coverage and ADR.
He understands business disputes. As partner in a major firm, Paul tried cases ranging from securities, tax, antitrust, copyright to corporate control before beginning a coverage practice in the 1990s. The Austin Business Journal once named him a "Best in the Bar" in Business Litigation.
He understands trials. From a federal clerkship, through cases around the country as a trial lawyer, and now as a neutral, Paul has a keen sense of trial strategies and evaluations affecting settlement.