Set-up & Workflow

Track Your Workflow

Hold/Reserve Means:
When you have a specific date in mind and would like to hold or reserve, please reserve the time on Karl's online scheduling calendar or schedule a pre-mediation conference with Karl to further discuss your scheduling needs.

Intake Means:
You need to fill out our Intake Form and email it to Carolina so that she can send you a confirmation packet

Confirmation Means:
Once Carolina receives the Intake Form, she will send a confirmation packet to all participating attorneys. This packet contains a letter that provides crucial details, policies and procedures, an invoice and Karl's one-page resume.

Preparation Means:
Once your Online Mediation has been confirmed, you need to gather certain types of materials and ensure that your party will have a representative present for the Online Mediation who has full settlement authority.

KB Reviews Means:
For Karl to prepare appropriately, he wants to review your materials ahead of your session. We need these materials delivered to us at least 3 days prior to your Online Mediation to give Karl appropriate time to review them fully.

Online Mediation Means:
The virtual meeting of all parties and clients in the dispute and their representatives. The Online Mediation takes place entirely by video conference and brings all parties together without requiring anyone to be physically present in the same location.

Follow-Up Means:
Anything Karl needs to do to help complete settlement negotiations, whether or not your dispute actually settled on the day of the Online Mediation.

Ready to Get Started?

Please feel free to use this website to simplify your life and organize your experience with us. To get the ball rolling, schedule a pre-mediation phone or video call with Karl to discuss your needs.

1. If you're ready to have your legal assistant(s) start working with Carolina, ask them to give her a call or, better yet, email her.


2. Ask your client to review Karl's formal resume and check for potential conflicts.
   
   If clients are interested in getting to know Karl a little better, you can send them to read about him here.


3. When you and your client are ready to reserve a time for your Online Mediation, visit Karl's availability calendar and click on the date you prefer to hold the day and time that works best for you


4. Once you've reserved your time, you'll receive a confirmation email with more information and instructions for joining by video conference on the day of your Online Mediation.

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Before Your Online Mediation

Once we've been engaged, we need your careful attention to the following. You'll be submitting a number of documents to Carolina and Karl before your mediation begins. Feel free to use email, postal mail, or an overnight delivery service.

• If you use email, send it to Carolina and be sure to copy Karl.

Within a Week of Confirming Your Engagement

1) Verify there are no conflicts of interest.

Your confirmation packet includes a one-page resume for Karl. We encourage you to review that, contact others who have worked with us before, read our blog, Google us, and do anything else you need to do to make sure you and your client will be comfortable working in a confidential relationship with us.

2) Email or call Carolina to let her know how many break-out rooms we need to reserve for you.

Depending on the alignment of parties and the legal issues involved, participants may need to be clustered - or separated - to ensure candid conversation. You are the best source of information for us on this.

3) Estimate the number of people who will be attending for your team and email or phone Carolina with that number.

Karl expects all parties will be present at the mediation or have a representative present who knows the entire case well and has full settlement authority.

4) Expect to receive your confirmation packet from Carolina. It will contain a letter that verifies your confirmed online mediation date, time and place; your invoice; and Karl's one-page resume.

2 Weeks Prior to Your Online Mediation

1) Discuss the case with Karl by phone. To avoid telephone tag, please feel free to book a conference call through Carolina. You may call Karl at home in the evenings or on the weekend, if needed.

If there are issues not immediately apparent that could impede settlement, including insurance coverage issues or particularly sensitive interpersonal relationships, they need to be identified in this call.

2) Submit to Carolina a list that identifies all attendees for your team.

3) Review our payment policies and forward them to your client.

We expect to receive payment before your mediation begins. If you must cancel after you have engaged us, we will need 24 hours notice. See details about cancellation here.

At Least 3 Days Prior to Your Online Mediation

1) Submit your written pre-mediation statement and any other materials you believe Karl needs to review in order to understand the disputed issues.

2) contact Carolina El'Azar to make sure Karl has been paid.

3) If your session is NOT scheduled to take place in our office, and your assistants want help with setup, they need to call Carolina at least three days prior to your mediation with their questions. (Carolina does not normally attend off-site mediations but she is available to help your assistants think through what needs to be set up.)

Karl will tell you he will read anything you send but he prefers you send helpful information about the case and a written summary of any thoughts you think will help him understand the case better. These are documents Karl finds most helpful:

• A short objective, footnoted case-summary of the dispute (history, background, past offers, etc.)
• Highlights of crucial depositions and documentary evidence with explanatory notes from the attorneys
• Confidential comments that don't appear on the face of the record about personalities or impediments to settlement
• MSJ briefs, briefs on important motions (e.g. Daubert), other briefs on important legal issues
• Graphics, pictures, tables or slideshows that illustrate key aspects of the dispute

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During Your Online Mediation

While your online mediation is in session, Karl will be working with you in virtual breakout rooms or joint sessions

Carolina will be standing by to assist you in any number of ways, including:

• making copies or print out hard copies of documents you need
• receiving and transfer calls for you
• getting lunch for the group and providing snacks throughout the day
• arranging a cab to return you to the airport if you're coming from out-of-town
• helping you with any wireless network trouble
• answering questions
• finding Karl for you if you need to locate him.

Mediated Settlement Agreements

Regardless of where your mediation takes place, Karl will be actively helping the parties draft a mediated settlement agreement that fits your situation. However, Karl does not supply mediated settlement agreement forms of any kind.

If your dispute resolves, the lawyers will draft the mediated settlement agreement and all parties will be expected to sign it. If you would like us to have a copy of your agreement, depending on the parties and what you have agreed to, we are happy to receive a copy of your final agreement. This is not necessary, but we are happy to accommodate your preference. We dispose of all records, except payment records, within 30 days after a mediation comes to conclusion.

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After Your Online Mediation

Even if your dispute does not resolve on the day the parties get together, and the lawyers want Karl to keep working to help them resolve it, he will.

As a matter of fact, this is a distinguishing factor in our practice.

The unusual thing about Karl is that he never gives up on disputes that didn't settle. He believes strongly in trying to help the lawyers resolve disputes any way he can. This is why he makes himself available 24/7/365 from wherever you need him. He sticks with disputes until there's absolutely no hope of resolving them at the current time. Even then, he's often asked to restart mediations that stalled when settlement chances improve and, when this happens, he's delighted to help.

So, be sure to call Karl after your online mediation if you need further help.

Whether your dispute settles or not, please make sure you have provided Carolina with all your contact information, including your email address, so that Karl can keep in contact with you.

Carolina should already have received your payment prior to the start of your online mediation. We expect you to follow up with Carolina and make certain that your payment has been received and recorded.

We look forward to working with you.