Emotional Conflicts and Disputes, Difficult People, and Complex Lawsuits
Emotional conflicts and disputes, difficult people, and complex lawsuits are what make Doug Noll a very different mediator and peacemaker. Based in central California and serving all of California, Doug's multi-disciplinary mediation approaches are grounded in cutting edge neuropsychology, communication, and negotiation processes.
Emotional Conflicts and Disputes
Many cases are just about the money, but many cases are not. Even when money seems to what everyone is fighting over, other issues lie deep under the surface. Doug uses the acronym CRIP to help de-cipher these emotional cases:
Content: What the tangilble things in dispute -- usually money, real estate, or other objective things.
Relationship: What the relationship is about -- usually hierarchy issues around fairness, equitable treatment, trust and betrayal.
Identity: Face and self-esteem -- always present, but rarely recognized or acknowledged.
Process: How the dispute is occurring -- usually through litigation or arbitration, but not always. There are multiple levels of disputing as well.
Most of the time, Relationship, Identity, and Process issues drive Content issues. The challenge is that only Content is talked about. Underneath the money there are often deep injustices that feed emotional conflicts. Doug knows how to unearth these deep injustices, sense of betrayal, rejection, and disrespect to help the parties and counsel move towards not only settlement of the money and legal issues, but towards a sense of closure and inner peace.
Family business conflicts often typify emotional conflicts and disputes. Likewise, employment cases may involve emotional conflicts and disputes between the employer and employee or ex-employee. Some of the most difficult and challenging emotional conflicts and disputes involve family fights over the care of elderly parents or end-of-life choices. Doug brings a sensitive yet pragmatic approach to each of these problems with his grounding in 22 years of experience as a civil trial lawyer, a student of tai chi and martial arts, and with an academic background uniquely suited to this work.
Difficult People
Difficult clients are challenging. Sometimes, you need a mediator to mediate between you and the client. Sometines, you need a mediator to say things you cannot say. Sometimes, you need a mediator to reinforce what you have been explaining. Sometimes, you need a mediator with the experience of dealing with difficult people all of the time. These are the times you should consider Doug Noll to mediate your case. Doug is a lay student of neuropsychology because he understands that everything we experience is ultimately processed through our brains. As he studies the most recent research findings in neuropsychology relevant to emotions, social interaction, and decision-making, he develops ways of working with people to de-escalate while respecting their current emotional states.
Complex Lawsuits
Complex lawsuits, whether involving arcane areas of law or many convoluted facts, present challenges in mediation. What is important to resolution is not always what is important to winning at trial. You need a mediator that knows the difference. Doug's 22 years as a trial lawyer, his 10 plus years teaching Remedies as a law professor, and his years in practice as a mediator give him an edge in grasping complexity quickly and thoroughly.
What People Say...
"Your ability to allow everyone to be heard, to allow for the emotions to be expressed, and keep on task was the key to the great result " S.B.
Articles by Doug Noll of interest on difficult cases: