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NYLJ.COM | Alternative Dispute Resolution | MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017 | S5
Courthouse to Conference Room: Transitioning From the Bench to Private Mediator
BY LARRY S. SCHACHNER
Ihave been engaged in the practice of pri- vate mediation for only a few months, but already feel like it is the most logical and exciting continuance of my 30-year judicial career. I was a proud employee of the court system, first as a law secretary to Supreme Court Justice Howard R. Silver and then as a judge myself. I have served in four dif- ferent courts: Housing, Civil, Criminal and Supreme. By far, my most enjoyable time on the bench was mediating cases with an eye towards settlement. I believe my time as both a law secretary and as a judge was the perfect training ground for my career as a private mediator. I look at my new journey in ADR/private mediation as a natural next step in my judicial career and I’m happy to have the opportunity to work at NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation).
LARRY S. SCHACHNER is a retired justice of the Supreme Court, Bronx County. He is a member of NAM’s (National Arbitration and Mediation) Hear- ing Officer Panel.
The bottom line is that private mediation allows cases to be resolved
more quickly, more efficiently, with greater cost-effectiveness
and with the parties maintaining greater control of the outcome, than allowing your case to slowly meander through the different stages of the court system’s litigation maze.
ing. In some of those instances, litigants wait six months or sometimes up to a year or more for a decision to be rendered. Certainly, this is not fair to the parties as it prevents a case from being fully evaluated, settled, or sent out to trial. These issues will not be solved overnight, despite the best of intentions of court administrators.
New Career, New Observations
The problems that I left behind in the court system are now in my rearview mirror as I embark on my new career. I’d like to share a few observations which I’ve made in my first few months as a neutral. First and foremost, private mediation is much more civilized and efficient than a settlement conference in court. Instead of waiting around in a court- room with a hundred other attorneys to have your case called for a five-minute conference, mediation allows you to manage your time more efficiently. In private mediation, you have a solid block of time to discuss your case with a mediator who is solely focused on your claim. While on the bench I learned to multitask quite effectively, conferencing a case, signing a discovery order » Page S11
As a law secretary for Justice Silver during the 1990s, my fondest memories are the many cases I settled in the “STP Part,” earning the nickname “Judge Larry” from the attorneys who appeared before me. In those days, pri- vate mediation was a rarity. Today, it’s the norm. While on the bench, I handled a wide variety of cases, from those involving pro-se litigants to more complex litigation such as labor law, toxic torts, medical malpractice, premises liability, civil rights, municipal lia- bility and motor vehicle negligence. While I tried my share of cases, I believe my biggest strength as a judge has always been my abil- ity to bring parties together to resolve issues and settle disputes.
Over the years, I have seen firsthand how difficult it has become for lawyers to get their
cases tried. There are many reasons why this has occurred but, in my opinion, the number one reason is that there are an insufficient number of judges available to try cases. While this problem has gotten worse, it has also been exacerbated by the Office of Court Administration (OCA) budget cuts. A judge needs a courtroom and a staff to conduct a trial. In recent years, budget constraints have seen court clerks retire and not be replaced. In the Bronx Supreme Court, the Law Depart- ment was stripped bare. The loss of experi- enced clerks and court attorneys in the court system has created a brain drain and shortage of essential resources. Another reason why resolving litigation faces inordinate delays is that certain cases sit in a holding pattern while summary judgment motions are pend-
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