The Represented Client in a Settlement Conference: The Lessons of G. Heileman Brewing Co. V. Joseph Oat Corp.

58 Pages Posted: 16 Nov 2009

Date Written: July 1, 1991

Abstract

This Article sets out various perspectives that litigants, lawyers and judges commonly bring to settlement conferences, perspectives on lawyer-client relations, negotiation, and the role of the judicial host. In examining the opinions in the Heileman case, along with other materials, the Article attempts to uncover the underlying assumptions about the settlement conference that informed the behavior of the judges and lawyers in that case, arguing that Heileman's explanation lies in the lawyers' and judges' tendency to embrace one of two radically different visions of the settlement conference. The Article then catalogs the advantages and disadvantages of involving clients in settlement conferences and describes the many different ways in which a client can participate, and offers general suggestions about when and for what purposes a judicial host should require a litigant or a representative of an organizational litigant to accompany the litigant's lawyer to a settlement conference. It then proposes an explanation for the expression "full authority to settle the case" as it applies to an organization. Finally, the Article reviews the obligations of the client or client representative once he or she appears at the settlement conference and suggests a special benefit flowing from client participation in settlement conferences.

Keywords: settlement conference, mediation, mediator, Heileman, alternative dispute resolution

Suggested Citation

Riskin, Leonard L., The Represented Client in a Settlement Conference: The Lessons of G. Heileman Brewing Co. V. Joseph Oat Corp. (July 1, 1991). Washington University Law Review, Vol. 69, 1991, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1506713

Leonard L. Riskin (Contact Author)

University of Florida Levin College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
United States

Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law ( email )

375 E. Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
United States

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