Ohhhhmmmmmm......close your eyes.....let the world go...go down....deeper....deeper.
Oh wait- that is MEDITATION and we are writing about MEDIATION.
Very quietly last week a pilot criminal mediation project went into effect. Four cases were sent to Retired Judge and apparently Super-Mediator Stanford Blake, whose health appears to be just fine we are pleased to report.
And the results of this frangipani experiment were that.....(drum roll please....) ALL FOUR CASES WERE SETTLED! TA DA!
Well fry us in butter and call us a Catfish! Mediation. In criminal court! Who woulda thunk it?
Put us firmly in the NO category about this unsavory experiment in jurisprudence. If this gets out, the next thing that will happen is that more cases will settle and no one will need criminal trial lawyers and we don't remember anything from law school about how to write a will or do a closing. Trying criminal cases is all we know how to do. (That and writing superb blog pieces, but there is only money in trying criminal cases).
So no sir, settling cases with mediation is not something we like. Not one bit.
Now excuse as as we have to finish an appellate brief on our IBM Selectric.