Farley was once again invited to give a presentation to a medium sized law firm yesterday on dealing with challenging clients and lawyers. Those of you who have met Farley will be familiar with his friendly personality and witty sense of humor which helped ensure everyone stayed involved and intrigued throughout! During this presentation Farley

The Art of Dealing with Difficult Clients and Difficult Lawyers   Founder and CEO of The Mediation Experts, Farley S. Tolpen was delighted to give an invited presentation last night titled “How to Recognise and Deal with Difficult Clients and Difficult Lawyers”. Farley is well known for his inspiring and enthusiastic talks and he was

As a US expat, I am on average asked 3 or 4 times a week just what exactly is going on with America, the election and in particular with Donald Trump.  I explain that Americans (particularly middle Americans) are rebelling against the established order and are supporting candidates from the far right like Donald Trump

I have devoted my life in assisting people to resolve conflict through mediation. One of the joys of mediation is when the parties are able to set aside their differences and reach a resolution of all issues. In my experience, this occurs about 90% of the time. I recently had a complex combination of an

At first glance, mindfulness and mediation are very different. Mindfulness is referred to as a solitary self-help/self-development practice. Mediation involves a conversation between a minimum of two parties and a mediator. When these two practices are joined, there are very similar parallels that lead to resolution. Both practices require the person/mediator to pay attention to

I recently had the opportunity to see and hear the Dalai Lama. He spoke for over 1-1/2 hours and was incredible. Part of his talk was how each of us as individuals possess the seeds of love, compassion, empathy, kindness and forgiveness. These seeds can be developed by practice. Once we have sown said seeds

WHY I MEDIATE Someone asked me the other day why am I so passionate about mediation. I thought for a moment and told him that my mission statement as a mediator is to leave to world a better place than I found it. What that means is that as an individual, I can help resolve

FROM ANGER AND BITTERNESS TO RELIEF AND SMILES – A SUCCESSFUL MEDIATION! One of the joys of mediation is when parties are able to not only resolve the conflict, but also come to terms with their emotions. I recently conducted a business mediation between two directors who had been with the same company for over

I enjoy my work as a mediator and I find that time passes quickly when I am in the middle of a mediation. I recently held a session between two parties and their respective lawyers. The dispute had been going on for more than 4 years and a great deal of money was involved. There

Cyclones cause havoc and so do disputes. Today, I spent hours hosing down my driveway and veranda. As I was guerneying, I came to realize that the skillset needed to achieve a good result was similar to that needed for a successful mediation: Patience. You cannot go any faster than the clients/guerney equipment; Mindfulness. You