As most Hawaii Attorneys know, mediation has become a very effective litigation tool in Hawaii. Although mediations occur throughout the United States, the people of Hawaii with their unique cultural history, seem particularly well-equipped to effectively use mediation.

Mediation is a process in which parties to a dispute agree on an impartial third person who guides the litigants to a settlement using various negotiation and/or communication techniques. Although Mediation may serve several purposes, its overall goal is to help the parties settle their own problems.

The selection of the mediator is critical. Parties should look for the following factors in a mediator:

1. The mediator has no conflicts of interests.

2. The mediator has adequate time to devote to the case.

3. The mediator should be able to meet the parties’ expectations with regard to timing.

4. The mediator should be completely candid and honest with all aspects of the process.

5. The mediator must be qualified.

If you can be sure that your potential mediator meets these factors, he or she may be right for your case.

This is the first entry into my legal blog. I have decided to write this blog to discuss issues in the Hawaii legal community that I feel are important. I also hope that my clients, potential clients and friends will learn about my philosophy concerning the practice of law. Therefore, for my initial blog, I felt it prudent to discuss that philosophy.

I graduated from Washington & Lee University School of Law in 1985. At the start of my career I worked for very large law firms on some major cases. In the 1980’s, it seemed that a team of lawyers was necessary to handle a big case. Indeed, when I first became an attorney, my job typically was to sit in a law library and perform research for older, more experienced lawyers. Since computer legal research was in its infancy in the 1980’s, it was necessary to spend countless hours in large law libraries researching hardbound volumes hoping to find one case that could help your client. Computerized legal research has dramatically changed the practice of law forever.

In 2006, it is not necessary to be represented by a legal team. When I started my own law office in 1997, I decided not to purchase a law library. All of my legal research in my office is performed via the internet. As my clients know, I litigate effectively against much larger law firms. This is a fact. I am able to do so, not because I am vastly superior to other attorneys, but because I use technology. I do not need a team of lawyers to assist me. My clients do not have to finance that team. I believe that this is the future of the practice of law. Technology has changed almost every industry in the world. The legal profession is not immune from the efficiencies of technology.

However, each attorney should be vigilant to ensure that technology improves the services we provide to our clients. Lawyers can serve clients more effectively if we rely upon ourselves, rather than a staff of associates. Of course, recent technological advances can weaken client services. Indeed, it is now possible for an attorney to become more isolated from their clients by being overly dependent on technology. Some lawyers use answering machines and email as buffers between themselves and their clients. It also troubles me that there are lawyers who have their legal documents “ghost” written by attorneys who do not even work for their law firms (or even practice in their jurisdiction). Although technology has forever changed the legal profession, an attorney cannot allow technology to compromise the quality of legal services provided to his or her clients.

So as I enter my new life as a blogger, I am optimistic that this will be a positive force for the discussion of legal issues facing Hawaii attorneys and our clients. I welcome your comments.