We Speak Your Language
Our mediation practice is structured to provide parties with a unique mediation process. Although we focus on insurance coverage and insurance defense mediations, the structure of a Betts Patterson mediation guarantees your mediators will speak your language before anyone walks through the door. The members of the Betts Patterson mediation team have spent years as litigation attorneys on behalf of both insurers and policyholders, have represented hundreds of insureds and claimants, and have extensive litigation experience in intellectual property, environmental and other fields of law. We provide a mediation experience that applies the lessons learned from attending hundreds of mediations as party counsel. As mediators we engage counsel and the parties on the facts and the substantive law, and do not merely convey offers.
Our Mediation Services encompass four core components to provide you the unique advantages of early engagement and preparation, deep legal expertise and experience, and strategic negotiation.
1) Early Engagement & Preparation
We utilize a team approach, informed by long experience with what works and what doesn’t in insurance mediations, to provide a unique level of effectiveness and engagement with the parties. Before the mediation starts we do a deep analysis of the parties’ mediation statements and hold candid discussions with counsel, research applicable case law, learn the facts of the case and evaluate the challenges to settlement.
2) Deep Expertise in Case Law
Insurance Coverage has been referred to as The Briar Patch, due to its dense tangles and traps for the unwary and wary alike. In such a highly intellectual and abstract field, our nationally recognized coverage expertise affords us the ability to understand and comprehensively discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ positions, and provide insight into the likely outcomes if the case were to proceed to summary judgment or trial.
3) Negotiation Strategy and Real Time Finesse
Our negotiation strategy is based on our knowledge of insurance law, likely case outcomes, and the time we spend getting to know each set of facts and each party to the mediation. This allows us to tailor each party’s experience to address the issues each sees as critical to the matter. This is a result of understanding the values and motivations of opposing parties and the psychological aspects of decision making that play into how settlements are reached.
4) Financial Valuation – When The Numbers Are Real
Our commitment is simple – assuring fairness to all parties. We provide financial settlement recommendations based on accurate modeling, case law and deep understanding of each case. No posturing, no false base line – we give you real numbers and tell you why.
