Mr. Hanna has conducted hundreds of mediations in some of the most complex and extensive mediations conducted in South Carolina which has resulted in his election to the American College of Civil Trial Mediators. He has successfully mediated cases in both State and Federal Courts in areas of litigation ranging from construction to employment to personal injury to class actions. In addition to acting as a mediator, he has been selected by judges and his peers to act as both a special referee and arbitrator in a wide range of disputes. Being a sole practitioner eliminates many conflicts of interests, and he travels to many areas of the state to conduct adr proceedings.
If you are interested in scheduling a mediation, contact Bonnie Anderson to set a date and confirm fee arrangements. Payment of Mr. Hanna's bill will be the ultimate responsibility of the attorneys involved. Any additional work will be charged at the prevailing rate, hourly rate or the paralegal rate, whichever applies. In the event the mediation is canceled more than one week in advance, you will be billed for our time in the file. If you cancel less than a week prior to the mediation, you will be billed for our time, plus a cancellation fee of one-half of the minimum. Rescheduling will be billed at the paralegal rate. Prior to the mediation, we would ask that you advise us as to how the bill should be split among the parties.
While we do not require one, the Rules provide that you may submit a Brief of no longer than five (5) pages; however, at a minimum, we would like a copy of the initial pleadings, i.e. Summons and Complaint, Answer, etc., to review prior to the mediation.
Below you can download a copy of our Mediation Agreement for execution in advance by those people who will not be appearing in person at the mediation. Please have anyone who will be participating and not appearing sign the Agreement beforehand and bring the Agreement with you to the mediation, or we will not be able to conduct the mediation. You will also need to notify all other parties if the parties required by the rules to present are not going to be in attendance, and secure their consent in advance. Also, please contact Mr. Hanna if you feel that there will be a problem with securing the attendance of those you feel are necessary to a productive mediation.
For your convenience, you will find below a conflict checklist which should be filled out and forward to us as soon as possible so that we perform a conflict check.
Mediation Agreement
Conflict Checklist
In light of the time constraints lawyers are confronted with in an effort to comply with court ordered mediation, we have begun to offer our clients a new service which we call "fast track" mediation. To initiate this process, the Plaintiff submits to my office three offers of settlement, not to be disclosed to the Defendant, ranging from his initial demand down to his lowest figure he will take. At the same time, the Defendant also submits three figures, which are not disclosed to the Plaintiff, starting with his initial offer and going up to his top number. These numbers are submitted to my assistant for comparison. She compares the Plaintiff's first number with the Defendant's first number. If they are within ten per cent of each other, the case settles at a number half-way between the two. If they don't, the second two numbers are compared. If those are within ten per cent, the case would then settle at the midway point between the two. If there is no settlement at that stage, the final two numbers are compared to see if settlement can be achieved. If not, she will contact the parties to schedule formal mediation.
The fee for this service is $500. If formal mediation is necessary, the $500 fee is credited towards the fees for formal mediation, no there is no financial risk in using this method.
If you are quickly approaching a time deadline from the court to mediate the case, we will prepare a report to the court which indicates that the case was partially mediated, but is in need of further mediation which has been scheduled. This should protect you until we can formally mediate the case.
If the process results in a settle, my assistant presents the results to me for validation and notification to the attorneys. If there is no settlement and formal mediation is scheduled, neither I nor the other parties will be advised as to what figures were submitted so that mediation can proceed without anyone knowing what number you are prepared to offer or to take.
It's a win-win process from both sides.
Check Bill's Calendar for available dates, then contact Bonnie at 843-651-9000 or bonnie@hannalawpa.com.
