Top Skills for an Arbitrator and Mediator at Simburg Dispute Resolution
Mel's work as an arbitrator and mediator requires distinct skill sets; mediation necessitates "good listening" and exploring "what their underlying interests are," while arbitration demands strong legal skills and the ability to "weigh evidence" and make impartial decisions based on presented arguments. The key difference lies in the active guidance role of a mediator versus the passive, evaluative role of an arbitrator.
Communication, Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, Active Listening, Legal Skills
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Mel Simburg
Arbitrator and Mediator
Simburg Dispute Resolution
University of California at Berkeley
Columbia University: Juris Doctor, Masters of International Affairs
Political Science, American Studies
Consulting & Related Professional Services, Law
Legal
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Active listening and communication skills are crucial for understanding the parties' interests and guiding conversations towards resolution in mediation.
2. In arbitration, strong analytical and decision-making skills are needed to evaluate evidence, weigh arguments, and make impartial rulings.
3. Understanding of negotiation strategies and risk assessment is essential for mediators to explore potential settlements and guide parties toward agreements, considering their best and worst alternatives to a negotiated agreement (BATNA and WATNA).
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
The skills in mediation are a little different from the skills in arbitration. In mediation, you have to be a good listener. You have to get the parties to focus on their underlying interests instead of their claims, disputes, and defenses that brought them into mediation.
In mediation, you also have to explore avenues of potential settlement. You look at what are called WNA and BATNA, which means the worst alternative to a negotiated settlement and the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. These are the literal alternatives to a settlement.
By exploring the risks and costs of continuing a dispute versus resolving it, and by looking at imaginative ways to resolve the dispute, that's how you succeed in mediation. You need to be mentally focused and thinking all the time. You need a psychological understanding of the parties' needs, what they're looking for, and what they're trying to accomplish.
You also need the skill to guide those conversations without taking a leading role, but rather an assisting role. Arbitration is different in that it's a much more passive role for an arbitrator than for a mediator.
I have to listen and evaluate what I hear, but I'm not making any suggestions to the parties. I'm not giving any advice, nor am I conveying information from one party to the other. Instead, I'm listening and evaluating, weighing evidence, making decisions on motions, and issuing rulings. Ultimately, I decide the whole dispute by issuing an award.
So, the skills for arbitration are more legal skills. It requires the ability to think through and understand different kinds of problems, and to weigh the arguments and evidence of each side to make decisions.
Advizer Personal Links
SimburgDR.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/mel-simburg-1277ba/