Related Professionals
PRINCETON, NJ, October 20, 2010 – Suzanne M. McSorley, Esq., a Shareholder in Stevens & Lee’s Litigation Department, presented on the do’s and don’ts in mediation at the annual meeting of the New Jersey Association of Corporate Counsel held September 24, 2010.
Ms. McSorley advised participants to start the mediation process as early as possible and to involve a mediator right away to assist the parties in the necessary exchange of information, which will allow for a favorable resolution. She urged participants to speak with the mediator in advance of the mediation session regarding the necessary and desirable participants in the mediation process, interests of the parties and the participants’ perception of the underlying drivers of the dispute. She also advised participants to prepare well for a mediation session, especially making sure that all participants in the mediation process have given thought to the party’s BATNA (“Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement”), and to rarely, if ever, dispense with a joint mediation session with all parties and counsel at the mediation table.
Ms. McSorley concentrates her practice in commercial litigation and dispute resolution, counseling clients in the construction, pharmaceutical, insurance and health care industries. In addition, she devotes a substantial part of her practice to the negotiation and drafting of agreements relating to construction projects.
Ms. McSorley holds a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law and an A.B., cum laude, from Princeton University. In 2007, she was selected as a “Legend of Alternative Dispute Resolution” by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education for her contributions to advance the cause of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution in New Jersey. In 2005 she was honored by the New Jersey State Bar Association as the “ADR Practitioner of the Year.”
