Comments from lawyers and participants concerning mediations before
Richard G. Spier
From counsel unless otherwise stated.
You consistently bring the highest caliber of insight and perspective tailored to each individual client–they also are most appreciative.
Thanks for your help today Rich. I think [clients] left feeling they got a sense of fairness and justice so mission accomplished.
Thank you very much for your hard work, and for perservering and not giving up.
You are so awesome. Thank you for taking the extra mileage on this case.
I just wanted to thank you again for your diligence, professionalism & patience–you literally made this thing happen.
Great job! And not an easy one.
In my 20+ years of practice, I’ve had only one contract dispute successfully resolved through mediation. And to this day I’m not quite sure how Richard Spier was able to accomplish it.
My client was very pleased with your approach, your courtesy and treatment of her in this case, which was difficult fo her. She is content with the result and is glad that it is now over. I believe [opposing counsel] and I chose very well in our selection of you as the mediator.
I appreciate your sensitivity to Mr. [client’s] needs and issues.
During the mediation I honestly did not think we would get an agreement, but you came through.
I was immediately impressed by your likeable and easy going personality which put me at ease in a tense environment. I felt that you did an excellent job in a very difficult situation and we could not have asked for a better mediator for this case. (From a represented party)
Thank you very much for your true diligence, your patience and your astute analysis that lead to the parties reaching an agreement.
Your impressive expertise brought us together and I have complete respect for the way you assisted us.
Thanks again for your excellent assistance in this matter. It was a very emotional situation for our client, and you struck just the right approach for her to feel comfortable resolving her case.
We appreciate your skill and perserverance in bringing the parties to a compromise settlement.
Thank you for your hard work and sense of fair play. It was good to work with you.
Thanks again so much for your thoughtful, patient help with yesterday’s mediation. [Client] was very pleased with the result, and [client representative’s] comments about your involvement were nothing but positive. Thank you for your courtesies, respect and fairness in helping reach a settlement in the case I brought against [governmental unit]. (From a represented party)
Very nice job. I was impressed.
Thanks for hanging in there with us. We really appreciate your efforts.
You were awesome, tenacious, kind and firm.
You really helped the parties avoid an ugly situation.
You have done it again. Great work and successful outcome. My clients liked and respected you and your approach. I especially liked the way you brought technology to the mediation and produced the computer generated agreement to complete the process.
It’s clear to me that there’s no way the parties could have reached a global settlement without your efforts.
I greatly appreciate your help in this matter. You did a great job facilitating settlement of a very contentious case.
Thank you for your hard work in bringing this case to resolution. It is a great service that you provide. (From lawyer for one side) Great job! (From lawyer for the other side)
You work harder at getting cases settled than any other private mediator I know of. [Client representative] has experience with dozens of mediators around the country. She was impressed with your work.
Thank you for an outstanding job. It’s a pleasure to work with someone who takes the time and has the expertise to learn the issues–legal, factual and psychological.
I echo [co-counsel’s] expression of gratitude. You really hung in there.
You did a superb job on this mediation! As the day went along, the history and complexity of this family became apparent. It has been a true tragedy, with mental illness, dementia, and many other factors. Your help was enormous. (Estate and trust dispute between siblings)
Thank you so much for all of your hard work. The respect and understanding that you showed our client was invaluable. You helped save all of us from more stress, expense and uncertainty. It was a pleasure to work with you.
Once again, you pulled out the “impossible” settlement. I really appreciate your efforts and results. Thank you very much for your excellent work. The result is good for everyone, and you made it happen. I wanted to express my appreciation for an extraordinary effort to get this [ten-party] case settled. I did not give it much of a chance going in. During this marathon mediation, I continued have my doubts. Great job on a very complex piece of litigation./Great Job!!! I am amazed this is getting resolved. (From another lawyer in the same ten-party case)
You displayed an extraordinary tact and sensitivity to my client and his needs. I appreciated your persistence and willingness to work late.
Thank you for your very valuable assistance. We would not have settled without your facilitation. You do a great job.
You quickly grasped the dynamics of the situation and both skillfully and artfully facilitated the parties toward the settlement offer. I am impressed by your grasp of the mechanisms involved in structuring the settlement offer and your willingness to stick with it late into the evening and serve as scrivener to assure that the parties have a written document memorializing the offer.
Thank you for your unusually capable mediation. I’m not one given to accolades, but I thought your grasp of the issues, personalities and dynamics was extraordinary.
Thank you for the excellent job you did in mediating the [four-party] litigation. It was a real pleasure to work with someone who quickly understood the issues, dealt professionally with all the parties, and was able to assist the parties in reaching a settlement.
I felt that you were particularly sensitive to my clients’ plight and you were most gracious and professional in bringing the parties together and achieving this settlement. Needless to say, I was impressed with your services.
I very much enjoyed meeting you and working with you. You were very effective in helping us solve this difficult problem.
I appreciate your high level of professionalism on this matter. I do not think we would have gotten any result without your help. My client feels that you treated him very fairly.
Thank you for your excellent service in connection with this mediation. Not only were you effective as a mediator, but you were also a remarkably quick study.
I do not believe that we would have been able to resolve this matter without your involvement as mediator.
Thank you for your very fine efforts in a case that we did not think could be settled. I look forward to working with you again in the future.
Please accept my sincere appreciation for assisting in resolving a case which I surely thought was destined for trial.
Thanks once again for an excellent job in helping the parties reach a resolution of this very difficult case. I hope to use you again in the future.
I personally wanted to thank you for the fine job you’ve done in our recent matters. I was surprised that we were able to resolve the [first] matter.
Thanks again for your good work. You did a great job with a complex case and difficult personalities.
You are amazing! It was fascinating to watch the interaction and to see your process bring four parties and their lawyers with such disparate views toward resolution. (From a lawyer-mediator observing a case)
I was very impressed at your ability to retain a neutral attitude throughout the proceedings. You did a very good job of conveying to the parties that you were sympathetic to their situation, understood their arguments, and yet were not on either side. (From another lawyer-mediator observing a case)
I sincerely appreciated your fine efforts and tenacity in getting the case resolved. [Client] was extremely impressed with your efforts.
Thank you for your assistance with this difficult matter. You did an excellent job for both parties.
I appreciate your patience during the mediation of this matter. As you could easily tell, the emotions were very strong and somewhat out of context to the matter being mediated. Eventually, with your guidance, things worked out on this matter.
Thank you for your efforts. It was certainly a long and difficult process; your patience and professionalism made all the difference in reaching a settlement.
I appreciated your candor and your ability to keep the other side at the table for as long as you did.
Thank you again for your exceptional work in getting this complicated matter resolved.
Thanks for your assistance—I didn’t really think it could happen.
For my part, and on behalf of my clients, I want to thank you very much for all of your efforts on this case. This was a very tough one! I have signed the stipulation, my client has signed the settlement and my check has been hand delivered to [opposing counsel]. (From a lawyer in a multiple plaintiff, multiple defendant case)
Just wanted to let you know we closed on the loan. You were instrumental in getting this deal started. Thanks for help and wisdom on the mediation. Both clients were well served.
You proved yourself up to your reputation as effective in difficult negotiations. I thought, too, that you did an excellent job of highlighting issues and posing difficult questions. Even if no settlement was reached, I would have gotten good value for my client’s money as I worked out responses to those questions. While we ended up with far less than I thought we should get, I’m sure the other side ended up paying far more than they thought they should pay. And where there is approximately equal disappointment all around, it tends to be a good sign that justice may have been approximated.
You were tremendously effective in closing this settlement. My client appreciated your high level of professionalism.
Wow, nice job. Thanks for all of your hard work, especially during your vacation.
You did a terrific job. For a number of reasons, I didn’t think settlement was likely. Very impressive.
Your efforts were instrumental in resolving a difficult and emotional case. I was especially impressed with how you related to my clients and you put them at ease and deflected potential bad feelings or anger that could have erupted and interrupted a smooth flow of the mediation process.
I am writing to express my utmost admiration for the way you mediated the [professional liability] claim. It was obvious to me that you were well versed on both the factual background giving rise to the claim, as well as on the applicable law. Your efforts in bringing the parties together to a successful resolution is much appreciated.
You did a fine job settling a very troublesome claim, and you were particularly adept at handling difficult emotional concerns. My clients respected your approach and were quite grateful afterwards.
Thank you so much for your masterful help in getting this resolved. [Client] is in a much more positive frame of mind about the future. Four years of conflict and litigation are very exhausting.
Thank you for doing such a great job at the mediation. Your enthusiasm and expertise was impressive and made a difficult situation proceed smoothly to resolution. (From a party)
I want to thank Richard for an excellent job in mediating this matter. We clearly could not have reached settlement without his fine work. This echoes [client’s] words to me.
Thanks for all your hard work and tactful understanding and working with the difficulties present in this case.
On behalf of everyone in our corner, I want to thank you for your efforts in settling this case. We couldn’t have done it without your patience and diligence.
I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work in getting this settled. This case was going to be a money pit in discovery far in excess of the value of the case. I really appreciate all the effort you put into it. (From a party)
Thank you for acting as mediator and for all your hard work. This deal would not have come together without your participation. It was a long day for all of us.
I appreciate your professional mediation services in this matter. This mediation was one of the most difficult that I have participated in. Your professional and persistent demeanor certainly made a resolution possible.
You did a terrific job. I particularly appreciate your draft settlement agreement. It creates a result-oriented atmosphere that is tough to overlook.
We appreciate the hard work you brought to the case, which was instrumental in its ultimate resolution.
This settlement would not have occurred if it wasn’t for your efforts. You did a wonderful job of getting the parties to agree to a reasonable settlement.
Your instincts here proved valuable. Thank you for taking the risk and doing something a little different to get this done. Your fine reputation is deserved.
Thank you for your efforts in moving the case toward settlement. I am appreciative of your professionalism and effective style.
Thanks again for the way you worked with [my clients]. It required a special touch, and I think your tactful, yet at times stern approach was helpful.
[Clients] were impressed with your professionalism and courtesies. It was good to finally have a mediation with you.
Mr. Spier is an excellent mediator and successfully guided the parties to an equitable resolution of the case.
We have a settlement. You must have used some magic dust.
Rich did an excellent job in a difficult mediation.
Despite all odds, you facilitated a settlement of this case that the participants seemed to have little interest in settling. Thanks for all your hard work.
It was very rewarding to work with you on this project. It is a great service to the litigants, their lawyers, and the public that you provide. I learned a lot from you working with you on this. Judge ________ was just thrilled to have this 27 day trial settle. (From a judge who assisted in final stage of mediation)
Thank you for all of your hard work in resolving [the foregoing 12-party, 27-day trial setting] case. We could not have done it without you.
Great job—it was a difficult one. Again, thanks—it’s nice to have this one go away.
You did a great job, Rich! We could not have done it without the mediator offer. Awesome work.
You should get a special hero button.
Without your assistance, this case definitely would never have come to a resolution short of full on litigation.
I found your style of mediating both refreshing and effective. I will certainly recommend that you be “top choice” in future matters.
Richard Spier was terrific.
Rich is good at what he does.
Thank you very much for your valuable assistance to the parties in helping us to bring a resolution to this complex case.
We appreciate your hard work and look forward to working with you again.
As my client noted during the mediation, he was extremely pleased with your services and I agree that you did an excellent job. I appreciate your hard work and dedication to helping the parties reach a resolution.
I just wanted to add my thanks for your hard work on this one. I know it was not easy, and I’m impressed you got it settled! I always enjoy working with you, and especially appreciate your determination and creativity on this one.
You were the perfect choice for this difficult case.
Mr. Spier is an outstanding mediator. [He was] extremely well-prepared and very attentive to my client’s underlying concerns. I was very well impressed.
You did a very good job. I would not hesitate to use you as a mediator again, and to recommend your services. The cost to litigate the case would have been at least 20 times your fee.
Thanks again for helping us resolve yet another case that I did not think was going to settle. Great job.
I had little sense that this case could be resolved, although I understood that it should have been. You somehow managed to get a number of conflicting parties to the table, to understand the risks involved (on all sides), and to get us to make a deal. My client and I are both satisfied with both the process and the result. You did not extract a pound, or even an ounce, of flesh. Rather, you made my client feel as though his concerns were being heard, given credit, and understood. Throughout, you were consistently professional and downright pleasant. I consistently have recommended you to my colleagues and co-workers, and will continue to do so.
I am confident that if anyone can settle these cases, Rich can. (From the lawyer-adminstrator of a court mediation program.)
I want to thank you for bringing a dose of reality to our client and associate yesterday.
Thanks again for the great job. It was a long day, but a good outcome. You prove over and over that you are best at getting these things settled, and I’m sure that’s why we all keep asking for your help.
Thanks for your tremendous and creative efforts to resolve this case.
Mr. Spier did a very fine job with numerous difficult issues.
I believe you went back and forth 13 or 14 times. You really worked for your money and got some exercise to boot. Thanks for your help on this tough case. It was fun and interesting, not to mention challenging.