Michael Cardozo will participate in this panel discussion focusing on trends and preferred strategies for zealous representation of clients in mediation. Of particular note is the controversial topic of using a sitting judge or arbitrator as the mediator or settlement judge to resolve the case. Attorneys must consider the possibility that the judge or arbitrator may, at some point, try to mediate the underlying dispute. In fact, the New York Commercial Division Rules were recently amended to recognize this possibility and to offer the services of justices other than the justice assigned to the case – but are attorneys and judges utilizing this protocol?