It was very nice to meet and work with you at our recent mediation. The family and I appreciated your efforts.
As we discussed, I will recommend you in the future and look forward to working with you in future cases.
Well done, Richard.You are an impressive professional mediator, the best I have worked with in my 45 years at the bar.
Thank you for an excellent job on our mediation. Both Sean McDonough and I appreciated your efforts on behalf of our clients. We were both impressed with your attention to detail and preparation. I hope to use your services again.
Richard is an excellent and highly experienced mediator of all kinds of disputes. I highly recommend Richard for matters that are being considered for mediation. He gets results.
I wish to take this opportunity to recognize the extremely effective mediation conducted by Richard M. Strauss, Esquire.
Although Mr. Strauss was recommended by a claim representative of defendant, he conducted himself objectively and impartially and most importantly, effectively in mediating a complex and difficult personal injury claim. I felt he mastered the materials before the hearing and was extremely prepared. He had a firm understanding of the medicine and the key issues in the case.
My clients were extremely comfortable with his approach to the mediation which created an environment towards a resolution.
I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending Mr. Strauss to other plaintiff's attorneys to mediate their complex matters.
My law firm handles plaintiff nursing home cases. Over the last couple of years, we have had the privilege of using Mr. Strauss as a mediator. There have been times when Mr. Strauss has been recommended by the defendants and there have been times where I have recommended him and defendants have agreed to him serving as the mediator. In all cases, Mr. Strauss is extremely well prepared for the mediation. He often knows more about the case than either side. Mr. Strauss studies every medical record provided to him as well as any testimony. I believe he fairly evaluates the "strengths" and "weaknesses" of the plaintiff and defendants case. Mr. Strauss does not recommend the use of opening statements or any evidence at mediation. Instead, he controls the mediation from the very beginning and his opening comments create an environment which is, in my opinion, necessary for compromise and resolution. After the parties separate, he often engages in open discussion with plaintiff about the case so that they have a strong understanding of what will occur at a trial.
He is the one individual who will provide the parties a truly unbiased opinion about the subject matter and value of the case. I think Mr. Strauss dramatically increases the possibility of a settlement. While not all cases settle at mediation, I think he gives you the best chance for an amicable resolution. I would have no hesitation in recommending Mr. Strauss for nursing home mediation. As you will see from reviewing his curriculum vitae, he has a good background in the nursing home business. His background provides him strong credibility with defendants. I believe him to be extremely fair.
My clients have always felt very comfortable with him and were very appreciative of his work ethic, knowledge and understanding of the issues. Anyone who considers retaining him, feel free to call me.
Thank you once again, for your hard work in successfully mediating the case before you last month. I appreciate all the time you took to read through the materials so to absorb and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of my client's case.
Of course, I'm of the firm belief that the strengths in the case outweighed the weaknesses! I don't doubt, however, that the defense felt the same way about their case. Your process includes valuable sharing of your insights into the case. Believe me, I wrote down what you were saying as fast as my pen would allow. If we hadn't resolved the case, I would have surely been better positioned to try it having gained the benefit of your feedback.
Your background and skill set in many years of mediating long term care cases helped my client (who in some respects was harder to persuade than the defense) towards a negotiating posture that made it difficult for the other side to dismiss. You also took your time to listen to her concerns and respectfully respond to her so that she could understand where the defense was coming from and what to expect should we decide to go forward to a trial.
This was not the first mediation in which your work guided a difficult client of mine towards a positive resolution. I'm sure it will not be the last, if I have my way.
I represent plaintiffs exclusively in a practice with a substantial amount of nursing home, assisted living facility, and medical malpractice litigation. I have recently had an opportunity to retain Richard M. Strauss, Esquire as a mediator upon the suggestion of national counsel for an assisted living facility chain against which I had a case in suit.
While I was initially hesitant to agree to a mediator selected by the defendant, upon reading the credentials of Richard Strauss, I was convinced that if he was suggested by the national owner of the facility, they would likely listen to his opinions if he fairly valued the case.
Once we got into the mediation, it was clear that Mr. Strauss had prepared extensively for the mediation. His grasp of all the issues on both sides was outstanding. It was a welcome change to have a mediator who was so familiar with the types of issues we face with long term care cases. I certainly appreciated his thorough initial comments. Although my client was a sophisticated business man who had engaged in many labor negotiations over the years, Mr. Strauss' opening comments certainly helped explain how this type of negotiation would be vastly different from previous negotiations my client had experienced. As he warned my client at the beginning, "patience" would be a true asset for the plaintiff throughout the day. He was certainly correct and nearly prescient in his admonition to my client.
The case did resolve successfully and my client and both lawyers from my firm who attended the mediation agreed that it was a testament to the hard work, thorough preparation and excellent mediation skills of Mr. Strauss.
I have already recommended him to defense counsel in other cases which are ripe for mediation and plan to continue to do so in the future. I am confident recommending Richard Strauss no matter what type of case and no matter what venue. The fact he has served as a mediator in so many states adds to the strength of his recommendations and only serves to enhance his ability to effectively guide the mediation process.
Please feel free to call me with any questions.
I told you and meant what I said that you are excellent and I would use you without hesitation. Feel free to use my name as a recommendation!
To whom it may concern,
I chose Richard as a mediator via the recommendation of the defense attorney in my case as well as another respected Plaintiff's attorney who is experienced in nursing home cases. Upon speaking to Richard about the case, I saw right away he had a lot of expertise and knowledge in nursing home claims having worked as a Director of Claims in the insurance industry before becoming a mediator.
I was impressed with the time he spent preparing for the mediation having filled a legal pad with copious notes about our case, the defendant's case and the strengths and weaknesses of both. It was because of his preparation that we were able to have a thorough discussion of the issues, strengths and weaknesses of our claim which helped our client understand the benefits of attempting to resolve the claim at mediation on her terms.
Ultimately Richard's goal was not to get one side or the other to come to his value of the case, but to attempt to get the most money as possible from the defense and see if this would satisfy myself and my client so that we would resolve the claim at mediation.
I feel that because of his experience in these cases, Richard could mediate them in any venue or jurisdiction across the country and would recommend a fellow Plaintiff attorney in using him to mediate their own nursing home case.
My clients and I mediated a nursing home neglect and wrongful death case, filed in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with Richard M. Strauss, Esquire. Defense counsel suggested Richard. I was a tad suspicious, because Richard's experience is defense-oriented. But my partner successfully mediated a case with Richard, gave him high marks and suggested I go with him. Having successfully mediated my clients' case with Richard, I likewise give him high marks and suggest you go with him on similar cases.
Richard showed great expertise in nursing home neglect issues in a case full of them, specifically:
Richard understood all the issues and all the angles. He was as prepared as any mediator I have worked with. That was very helpful with my clients, because Richard demonstrated he knew the case, analyzed the issues, could clearly communicate the strengths of our case to opposing counsel and the claim representative, and took the case seriously.
Richard kept the opening session – and really the entire mediation – non-adversarial. He explained why he would do it that way and why it would be a better approach than arguing disputed facts. He proved his approach was the better one; the case settled, my clients and I were happy with the outcome and it did not take forever.
Richard offered suggestions throughout the negotiations – something I found helpful. My clients and I liked working with Richard. I highly recommend you hire him to mediate nursing home neglect cases.
Very truly yours,
I write to share my recent and excellent experience with Mr. Richard M. Strauss, Esquire serving as a mediator on a nursing home case venued in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Strauss was recommended by defense counsel as a mediator on what I perceived to be a very clear liability case. Admittedly, because he was defense counsel's first choice, because of his long and extensive background on the claims and risk management side of medical and nursing home cases, and because he was not local to our jurisdiction, I was initially reluctant to accept the recommendation.
Nevertheless, with the hope that his background might carry weight with the carrier on the other side of our case, I began inquiring with other plaintiff's counsel in our region who had mediated cases with him as the neutral. Without exception, the feedback that I received from the Plaintiff's bar was positive, and Mr. Strauss was selected as our mediator.
At mediation, Mr. Strauss' approach to the day immediately dispelled any remaining concerns about his defense-oriented background. It was clear that he was a neutral in the truest sense of the word. His background was apparent, however, as he addressed the strengths of Plaintiff's case, highlighted any weakness, and used both to steer the case towards resolution as the mediation developed. Indeed, his experience with medical cases allowed him to ferret out subtle medical facts left out of Plaintiff's mediation submission for the sake of brevity. Without our telling him, he understood that laboratory studies not made a focal point of Plaintiff's submission nevertheless supported Plaintiff's theories of causation and damages. That understanding made clear that he had not only read the mediation materials but had considered them thoroughly as well.
Indeed, I can say without hesitation that I have never before seen a mediator so well acquainted with the facts and issues present in a case at the beginning–as opposed to the end–of the day. Obviously, his knowledge of both sides of the case, which was shared during the first private caucus with each party, built credibility with all involved and, from the perspective of our room, fostered both a deeper understanding of the defendant's position and provided assurance that he could communicate our own position effectively. Most importantly of all, his depth of knowledge on the not only the facts but also the issues in the case allowed the Plaintiffs to feel both heard and understood. I suspect we all have developed at least some distaste for mediations where we watch aggrieved clients walk away from the process feeling as if no one present heard them. While it may seem trite to say, our mediation with Mr. Strauss had the opposite effect on our clients and seemed, from their perspective, a fair approximation of justice.
As our mediation day moved closer to its ultimate end, it also occurred to me that perhaps Mr. Strauss' not being local had its own value as well. He approached the case without any of the locally acquired favoritism or bias that can sometimes color a mediation for or against our clients, leading to an ultimate resolution good for all involved.
For my part, I walked away from my first mediation with Mr. Strauss knowing not only that I would not hesitate to use him again but also that I would seek out opportunities to do so whether the case involved nursing home care or sounded in medical malpractice.
Should you have any additional questions about Mr. Strauss or his mediation process, please feel free to contact me.
I initially utilized Richard Strauss of MediateOne, Inc. via recommendation of defense counsel on a nursing home matter involving an overdose of a blood thinner medication. Richard was recommended due to his experience handling nursing home and long term care claims. Richard was very well prepared and had a clear understanding of the key issues in the matter. He started the mediation with opening comments which created a comfortable atmosphere for my client and a conciliatory environment for counsel.
Following the opening comments, Richard approached the matter with a thorough discussion and analysis of the key issues and facts. During the mediation, he was always very open to questions, options and suggestions not only from myself, but from my client. At all times, my client and I felt very comfortable with Richard and his opinions and suggestions. Richard was able to effectively mediate this matter and my other matters even though he is not from Pennsylvania. I would recommend Richard without reservation as I regularly propose him in my nursing home negligence cases.