Combining Litigation Skills with a Facilitative Approach that Recognizes that Mediation and any Resolution should be Driven by the Parties, not the Mediator.

Simeon H. Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, blends a substantial background in litigation with experience in and commitment to non-directive, party driven mediation. Mr. Baum has successfully mediated over 1,000 disputes. He has been active since 1992 as a neutral in dispute resolution, assuming the roles of mediator, neutral evaluator and arbitrator in a variety of cases, including the highly publicized mediation of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees relating to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, and Trump’s $ 1 billion suit over the West Side Hudson River development. He was selected for New York Magazine’s 2005 - 2014 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR, and Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011, 2014, and 2018.

Empowering Parties

The Resolve mediator earns trust and credibility from treating the parties with respect, using active listening skills, demonstrating genuine caring and engaging in substantial preparation. Mediation is not about "arm twisting" or other coercive settlement methods. Rather, the mediator empowers the parties and assists them in finding ways to resolve the dispute in a manner consistent with their own needs, interests and standards.

Legal Expertise

While not acting as a lawyer in the mediation, the Resolve mediator comes to the table with substantial experience as a litigator. Analytic skills and familiarity with the litigation process enable the mediator to speak the language of counsel and meaningfully explore with counsel and parties their best and worst alternatives to a negotiated settlement in light of a nuanced legal backdrop.

Listening Skills

The focus of a mediation must be the parties and their concerns. This requires the ability to open communications and encourage an open exchange of information, perceptions, ideas and feelings. The mediator thus seeks to elicit the parties expression of not only their positions, but their needs, interests and, indeed, themselves. Open expression is engendered by a tone of candor, neutrality, non-directive attention to the parties, the ability to rephrase and reframe in ways that let one party hear while the other party feels heard.

Problem Solving

The end in sight is dispute resolution, if the parties wish it. The mediator flexibly explores options with the parties, either jointly utilizing shared information, or in caucus, where parties are free to explore options and disclose information, needs, wishes and concerns in strict confidence.

Simeon H. Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc., bringing to the table 30 years experience as a litigator and substantial experience as a mediator, employs a non-directive, investigative style, utilizing litigation expertise to help parties arrive at their own analysis of strengths and weaknesses and move into areas of interests in search for creative ways of resolving their dispute.