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JANUARY 10, 2001: ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION - Verdicts and Settlements Reprinted from the Los Angeles Daily Journal, 2001 By Deborah Rosenthal Myer J. Sankary embodies an unlikely combination: corporate business experience and cross-cultural sensitivity. His breadth of experience, both personal and professional, has laid the groundwork for a very broad-based view of dispute resolution, which he applies in his work as a mediator and conflict management specialist. Sankary was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, by his parents, who were first-generation immigrants from Syria and Poland. Sankary's upbringing as the tenth child in a Jewish family living in a predominantly Christian community, as well as his exposure to members of racial minorities who frequented his father's dry goods store, gave Sankary an early education in survival skills, negotiation skills, patience and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. After studying philosophy at Texas Christian University, Sankary attended Harvard Law School, moving to California after he obtained his JD in 1965. His first job out of law school was an associate position at the Beverly Hills firm of Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman & Kuchel, where he learned litigation, transactional law, probate and estate planning. In 1971, Sankary took a position as house counsel for American Medicorp, Inc. Although he enjoyed hospital and health care law, Sankary says that he felt dissatisfied practicing law in-house, "a captive for one client." Seeking diverse clientele, Sankary left his position in-house and established a solo general practice in Sherman Oaks. There he handled business transactions and litigation, family law and personal injury cases. He did some mediation work on assignment from family court in the early 1980's, but when he decided to leave the adversarial practice of family law, he reduced his mediation practice as well -- with one notable exception. Since the 1980's, Sankary has fundraised and served on the Board for the American Friends of the Oasis of Peace in Israel, a cooperative village comprised of Jews and Palestinian Arabs of Israeli citizenship. Founded in 1972, the purpose of the community is to demonstrate the possibility of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East. The village hosts a School for Peace, and in 1996, Sankary, along with Grant Ackerman and Peter R. Robinson of Pepperdine University's Institute for Dispute Resolution, conducted an international program at the school, teaching mediation and conflict resolution to Israeli and West Bank Palestinian professionals, including lawyers, social workers, journalists and others interested in Western dispute resolution techniques. Sankary's work in the Middle East, to which he refers as "exposure to real human conflict at its most basic level -- where conflict frequently leads to violence," inspired him to resume his mediation efforts back in California. Sankary says that his experience dealing with such hostile conflict gives him a deeper understanding of how to deal with conflicts involving families, businesses, organizations and communities. Although he named the dispute resolution aspect of his practice "Advanced Mediation Services," Sankary does more than mediate. He also serves as a "neutral facilitator," resolving disputes for parties before they embark upon litigation, and as a consultant, advising parties regarding specific disputes or representing specific parties in mediation proceedings conducted by other neutrals. Sankary also teaches a course in negotiation strategies at the State Bar Education Institute for attorneys who want to maximize their clients' interests at mediation. Sankary views ADR as "a dynamic and systematic approach for individuals, businesses and organizations to increase value by reducing the costs of conflict." In keeping with this view, Sankary undertakes a series of steps when he is retained to mediate a case. Prior to the mediation, he speaks with the attorneys to identify any personality conflicts which might exist, to determine whether the parties have sufficient facts to make a sound judgment about the value of the case and to gain an understanding of what those facts are. "And then I want to get a commitment that if their last offers have not been accepted, that they are prepared to make additional offers," he says. Sankary often asks attorneys to prepare and bring a draft settlement agreement to the mediation which contains the terms they would like to reach. Keeping both sides' terms confidential, he enters the agreement into his computer and then, applying his experience as a transactional lawyer to the working document, he helps the parties throughout the day to phrase their goals in ways which he believes the other side is likely to accept. In emotionally volatile cases, Sankary may also ask the parties to engage in separate "pre-mediation caucuses" with him and their respective attorneys. According to Sankary, such meetings enable him to develop a rapport with the parties, allows the parties to vent their feelings about the opposing side and allows the parties and the attorneys to develop trust in his neutrality. Joyce Pearson, a tax and estate planning attorney, retained Sankary as a mediator on a probate matter in which she represented a brother against his sister in a dispute over their mother's estate. Sankary conducted pre-mediation caucuses with the parties in that case, and Pearson says the meetings "ended up being extremely effective." "Truly, it surprised me that it worked, but it did," she says. "Somehow he manages to really pick up the threads of the case that are important and really bring those to head at the table to make the parties talk." Pearson says that prior to the mediation, she did not think there was any chance of resolution, but the case settled at the end of a ten-hour day of mediation, and she and her client "were very pleased with our results." "[Sankary] has a very unique style in that he essentially forces the parties to get to the bottom of the issue and forces them to see [that their] case can only go just so far," Pearson says. "That brings each side to the table with their own limitations and flaws [in mind] and forces them to discuss, within that parameter, what they really can do to resolve the case," she says. According to Sankary, the secret to fostering a settlement through mediation is to apply business acumen, empathy and creativity to the facts to come up with novel ways to satisfy the interests of the parties. This proved effective in a case he mediated which involved a bitter, ten-year dispute over the ownership of a family business. The shareholders deeply distrusted each other, and one of the owners, Roger Small, says that he participated in the meeting "against my better judgment and my experience and my expectations." Nonetheless, Sankary "did the impossible," Small says. "In 4 1/2 hours we had signed an agreement." "He's a very trustworthy guy. It's that simple.... He walked in neutral and wanted the best thing for everyone involved, and he decided what that was [and] found a way.... He did an amazing job," Small says. Besides mediating disputes after they arise, Sankary offers another service to his business and corporate clients: he designs "conflict management systems" to enable companies to avoid and resolve the conflicts which often hamper their growth and success. Sankary advises business clients to develop programs "to avoid the breaking down of a working relationship" and to commit to resolving their conflicts through neutral facilitators. He assists them in drafting contracts which emphasize mediation as a means of handling disputes which might arise later in the business relationship. According to Sankary, parties use the threat of litigation to gain the upper hand early in a dispute. This threat therefore establishes a hostile background to a business relationship and can also distort the outcome of a conflict. Getting the parties to consent to mediation before a dispute arises diffuses potential problems before they begin, Sankary says. "What we really need to look at is: how can we resolve the conflicts based on what the true interests of the parties are?" "If you take the time and are really dedicated to looking at that, you can help the parties get to that point," Sankary says. ADR group: Advanced Mediation Services Case types: Business, probate and family, complex contract and corporate shareholder disputes Service area: Primarily Southern California Law school: Harvard Law School, JD 1965 Career highlights: Attorney and mediator, Law Offices of Myer J. Sankary and Advanced Mediation Services, 1971 - present; House counsel, American Medicorp, Inc., 1971; Litigation and transactional attorney, Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman & Kuchel, 1965 - 1970 ********** |
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