Ken Strongman, Esq. – Mediator

Category: Social Media Marketing & the Legal Professional

  • The Burger Prophecy: Why Litigators Must Embrace ADR as Client Relief

    The Burger Prophecy: Why Litigators Must Embrace ADR as Client Relief

    The most direct path to client relief is often not the courtroom, but a strategically navigated alternative.
    The most direct path to client relief is often not the courtroom, but a strategically navigated alternative.

    Three decades ago, then United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger issued a powerful dictum that every litigator should internalize: “People with problems, like people with pains, want relief, and they want it as quickly and inexpensively as possible.”

    As a seasoned commercial mediator, I see the truth of this statement daily. Your clients, whether a Fortune 500 company or a closely held business, aren’t paying for the spectacle of a fine courtroom. They are paying for a solution. They want to eliminate a business distraction, secure a financial outcome, and move on. For the litigating attorney, this means the question isn’t whether to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), but when and how to deploy it as the most direct path to the client’s desired “relief.”

    The Cost of Confrontation vs. The Value of Closure

    We all know there are cases that must be tried—complex issues of novel law that require adjudication to establish precedent and refine our legal system. However, the vast majority of commercial disputes are simply not in that category.

    The high cost of litigation isn’t just measured in billable hours; it’s the opportunity cost, the emotional toll, and the business disruption your client endures over years. ADR, in contrast, offers an expedited, economic, and less confrontational path to a resolution. It allows for a creative, business-focused settlement that a judge or jury, bound by law, simply cannot deliver. When you champion ADR, you are positioning yourself as a sophisticated strategist who prioritizes the client’s comprehensive well-being over a gladiatorial, zero-sum battle.

    ADR as a Strategic Complement, Not a Surrender

    Some attorneys mistakenly view suggesting mediation as an admission of weakness or a failure of their trial advocacy. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In modern commercial practice, ADR is a strategic, integral part of the litigation lifecycle.

    It should precede, help to deter, or, at the very least, complement civil litigation. By engaging in a series of negotiations or mediated sessions early, you gain critical insight into the opposing party’s true risk appetite, their counsel’s strategy, and the nuances of the case that depositions alone won’t reveal. Furthermore, involving the disputing parties more directly in the problem-solving process—a key component of ADR—increases the likelihood of a settlement that sticks.

    Actionable Takeaway: The “Relief” Checklist

    To ensure you are strategically deploying ADR for maximum client relief:

    • Audit Your File: Identify any novel legal issue that requires appellate review. If one isn’t present, the path to ADR should be your default.
    • Frame the Value: Present mediation to your client not as a cost, but as an investment in closure. Calculate the comparative savings in time and future legal fees.
    • Negotiate the Process: Be proactive in suggesting the right type of ADR (mediation, arbitration, or a hybrid). Don’t just wait for the court’s referral.

    The most effective litigators know that while a trial is sometimes necessary, a negotiated resolution is almost always the quickest way to provide your client the “relief” they truly seek.

    About the Author: Ken Strongman is a private commercial mediator/arbitrator of complex, high risk litigated cases since 2004. Disputes addressed include business, securities, construction defects, real estate, intellectual property, employment, environment, energy, and trusts & estates. He is also a Mediator and Arbitrator for FINRA, past president of The Mediation Society. and instructor at UC Law San Francisco. 

    The Posting is from my draft book on ADR. 

    #ADR #mediators #mediation #conflict #lawsuit #construction #legal #Securities #alternativedisputeresolution #negociation #dispute #finra #themediationsociety

    © 2025-26 Ken Strongman. All Rights Reserved. Please do not copy or repost without permission.

     

     

  • Social Media Marketing & the Legal Professional

    FAQ_Mediation Golden Gate

    Project Social Media

    Project Social Media presents my thoughts regarding the impact of social media marketing on the practice of law. When I first started my mediation practice, out of necessity I was forced to research and learn how to use social media to market my practice.
    My learning process has been pretty much trial and error, and from time to time, I blog about what I have learned. Often I present information I could have used myself when I started my own practice.

    Marketing is a necessary evil of a law practice

    Marketing is a necessary evil of a law practice. Unfortunately because marketing is not done to benefit any particular client, these efforts are not billable hours. Thus, it behooves the law firm to minimize marketing costs. Social media are the logical choice to start with because their time requirements and costs tend to be at the lower end of the spectrum while providing maximum exposure.

    Return on Investment (ROI)

    It is difficult to accurately quantify a Return on Investment (ROI) for social media marketing. This rings true for not only major non-legal corporations but for a law practice. Obviously, simple metrics such as number of “unique hits” or number of clients who say they came to you through your on-line presence are a good start.
    My first passion is for helping others resolve their conflicts. A close second is for using social media to promote my work in this area. Both are the outgrowth and intersection of an amalgam of my professional career activities, as follows:

    • The substantive areas of many of my mediations have involved intellectual property and social media. Others have either involved eDiscovery issues or the major aspects of the intellectual property of the social media itself and technology.
    • Besides speaking on mediation and conflict resolution I’ve spoken on the following topics: numerous speaking engagements on social media and the law;
      • Twitter: Impact on the Legal Community—the #Good, #Bad and #Ethical in Less than 140 Characters.
      • EDiscovery: An MCLE presentation.
      • Social Media—Friend and Foe! A four-hour MCLE workshop on how the legal industry’s landscape will never be the same.
      • If You Post It, They Will See It—The Legal and Ethical Duties of the Legal Professional in Social Networking. A three-hour MCLE seminar on legal ethics responsibilities in light of the ever-changing world of social networking
    • While teaching legal ethnics at John F. Kennedy University as an Adjunct Professor, how to ethical use social media as a legal professional was always a serious topic of interest by my students. This included the unauthorized practice of law, eDiscovery, privacy and confidentially, attorney solicitation and marketing.
    • Before starting a law practice, I had a fifteen plus year career in information systems.
    • And finally, there is my own need to develop and implement my own social media marketing plan for my Mediation practice and finding few resources useful to the legal professional.

    Ken_Strongman_003smAbout the Author: Ken Strongman (www.kpstrongman.com) has years of experience and a growing national reputation as a mediator and arbitrator.  He has successfully resolved more than a thousand disputes in the fields of construction defects, real estate, intellectual property, and employment.  He is also a Mediator and Arbitrator for FINRA.

    © 2020 Ken Strongman. All Rights Reserved. Please do not copy or repost without permission.