ABOUT MEDIATION

Looking to resolve a difficult dispute?

Litigation is not always the way to go. As a trial lawyer with over 36 years of experience trying and litigating complex commercial cases, combined with extensive and varied mediation training, I bring solutions to quickly, effectively and inexpensively resolve conflict. Sometimes parties want or need input from a mediator with substantive as well as process expertise, welcoming difficult questions and opinions on their likelihood of success should they choose to try their case.
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our services

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Business, Negligence and Family Disputes Resolved Effectively 

Often  a business dispute, such as breach of warranty or commercial property foreclosure, can seem unresolvable without litigation. I can tell you from experience that there are alternatives. Similarly, domestic relations conflicts, conservatorship issues and elder care management conflicts can be resolved efficiently, less costly and effectively with mediation.
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Why Joe Basta?

Broad Trial and Litigation Experience

Beginning as federal judicial law clerk in 1974, and after that for over 34 years with a large, Detroit-based firm, I have tried and litigated hundreds of state and federal lawsuits before judges and juries in the trial and appellate courts of Michigan, the Midwest, and beyond.
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  • “When anger comes, wisdom goes.”...

    Hindi Proverb,

  • “The reverse side also has a reverse side.”...

    Japanese Proverb,

  • “The heart has arguments with which the logic of mind is not acquainted.”...

    Blaise Pascal, Mathematician

  • “Resolving conflict is rarely about who is right.  It is about acknowledgement and appreciation of differences.”...

    Thomas Crum, Author

  • “A good deal is a state of mind.”...

    Lee Iococca, American businessman

NOTES FROM JOE

  • Talk Less, Listen More, Negotiate Better
    Talk Less, Listen More, Negotiate Better
    A recent Wall Street Journal article brought home to me again the importance of listening for successful negotiating. Journalist Masada Siegel reported interviewing Glen Cohen, a retired hostage negotiator for...
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  • Who’s Sorry Now?
    Who’s Sorry Now?
    The season is upon us. Alas, not summer but the season of apologies. Like pollen in the air, apologies proliferate. Brought to the forefront by the #MeToo movement, apologies are...
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  • The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: How We Create Our Own Conflicts
    The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: How We Create Our Own Conflicts
    …And How We Might Stop Doing So Why does an athlete who languishes on one team flourish when traded to another? Why does a move from one school to another...
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  • Food for Thought…And for Negotiation
    Food for Thought…And for Negotiation
    ADR professionals and experienced negotiators know that food can play an important role in building rapport, establishing connection, and fostering trust between adversaries.   Food is ubiquitous at family gatherings, in...
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