"Hon. Winifred Smith was a spectacular mediator. She used her extensive experience as a judge to offer important insight that our client trusted. She was knowledgable, empathetic, and practical in her approach. I would definitely use her again."
“What sets Judge Smith apart from other mediators is that she has the judicial experience, but unlike a lot of judges, she doesn’t come in and just say, ‘Well, I think this is how it’s going to go. You’re wrong,’ She comes in and does a great job of educating people about how a court might rule as opposed to telling them that this is what’s going to happen. In persuasion, if I come to a conclusion on my own, that’s a lot more persuasive than if you come to me and tell me what my conclusion should be. She was terrific with the parties. A lot of times, you’ve got litigants that aren’t necessarily as sophisticated as others, and she doesn’t talk down to anybody. She’s just very good at speaking in a way that gets those to the same place who may not normally want to be in the same place.”
“Judge Smith was excellent with clients. She plays well with others, and I really think that helps her have credibility with both sides. She’s very impartial, but she’ll tell you what she thinks. And when she does, she delivers that message in a non-offensive way and in a manner which people are more likely to say, ‘Maybe you’re right.’”
“Judge Smith is incredibly well prepared. I’ve probably done 50 mediations over the years – maybe more – and mediators frequently, unfortunately, come in and you can tell they haven’t read your mediation briefs and they just sort of hit the ground running at the mediation and try to just figure it out as they go along, and that delays things and that sometimes results in not having enough time to get things settled. Judge Smith is the opposite. She clearly knew the case inside and out. She suggested a variety of creative solutions. It wasn’t just, ‘You pay money, and you get money.’ There were just many different ways in which she structured things to try and get things done, and oftentimes, you really need to get creative like that to reach a resolution, and she was clearly very, very invested in trying to get the cases settled.”
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