Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

Technorati, the internet search engine that indexes and searches blogs, also analyzes the trends and themes of blogging. In its State of the Blogosphere 2008 annual report, Technorati reported that it indexed 133 million blogs since 2004, and has tracked blogs in 81 languages. Technorati concludes that this global phenomenon accounts for close to one [...]

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People who carefully prepare for mediation usually achieve better results than those who do not. This may seem obvious, but it is a fact that most lawyers and clients enter mediations unprepared or only partially prepared. Knowledge equals power in the mediation arena, as in most pursuits, and thoroughly prepared participants tend to overwhelm less [...]

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Aging Well magazine, which is for “Professionals Promoting Positive Aging,” recently published an article I wrote on elder mediation, entitled “Keeping Family Peace Through Elder Mediation.”
The article can be found here - “Keeping Family Peace Through Elder Mediation.”

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Trials, as a method of dispute resolution, have been trending downward for years. For example, the number of tort trials in the federal courts declined by 80% from 1985 to 2003. Of the 98,786 tort cases resolved in federal court in 2002 and 2003, only 1,647, or 1.7%, were decided by trial. The other 98.3% [...]

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Nina Weiss, Esq., an attorney/mediator and partner with the law firm of Serra/Weiss in Princeton, NJ, is a founding member of the Elder Mediation Center of New Jersey (EMCNJ).
Mediator Weiss was quoted in the March 2, 2008 edition of The Wall Street Journal in an article describing the growing recognition and use of elder mediation [...]

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(I am happy to introduce my first guest blogger, Marcie D. Cooper. Marcie is a geriatric care manager with several advanced degrees and licenses, such as an MSW, LCSW, and C-ASWCM. She is the owner of her own care management company, aptly named Marcie Cooper Care Manager, LLC, located in Fair Lawn, NJ. I have [...]

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A part of my practice involves mediation and collaborative legal practice. Both mediation and collaborative practice are dispute resolution techniques used as a alternative to litigation to settle a dispute. I believe that settlement, which is a product of mutual agreement, is almost always better than litigation. Settlement involves the principal of self-determination. That [...]

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New Jersey Lawyer (NJL), the official newspaper of the New Jersey Bar, recently took a look ahead to describe the practice of law in New Jersey in the future. The newspaper’s focus was on how the practice of law will change in the coming decade. To describe the future of the law in New Jersey, [...]

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I had my first experience with internet radio on July 1st when I was interviewed live on the Focus On Seniors Radio program on wsRadio.com, Internet Radio | Internet Talk Radio Shows, on the subject of Elder Mediation. The title of the program is “What are the benefits of elder mediation?” The program guide described [...]

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A recent article in the Lawyers USA newspaper discussed the growing use of elder mediation to resolve family disputes. The article quoted several practitioners of elder mediation, including the owner of this weblog, on their practice specialties and the use of elder mediation as part of an elder law practice when [...]

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