Michael Gregory Consulting, LLC mg@mikegreg.

com
1945 Sharondale Ave. www.mikegreg.com
Roseville, MN 55113 651-633-5311

As a trained and qualified mediator I can help you and your clients overcome:

 Confirmation Error: We tend to seek out and remember those we know, like,
and agree with on topics.
 Contrast Effect: We evaluate compared to what else is available.
 Overconfidence: We tend to overestimate our ability to be successful.
 Settlement Decision Error: See excerpt on Kiser study.

A major study1 concluded that even parties advised by experienced litigators are not
above error. Comparing actual trial results with rejected pre-trial settlement offers in
more than 4,500 cases and 9,000 settlement decisions made during a 44-year
period, the study found that 61% of plaintiffs and 21% of defendants obtained an award
at trial that was the same or worse than the result that could have been achieved by
accepting their opponent’s pre-trial settlement proposal. (That’s 82% of the time) Yet
while plaintiffs tend to make more errors in their estimates more frequently, defendants
do so with greater severity. When a plaintiff misses the mark, he or she is only off by an
average $43,100. The defendant misses less frequently, but the verdict is 26 times the
last offer when he does: $1,140,000.

In a KPMG study over 83% of mergers and acquisitions failed to produce any
benefits and over half actually reduced the values of the companies. Besides the
financials consideration has to be given to the mapped out strategy before the event,
power relationships, personal issues, cultural issues, having clear goals that are well
planned out exploring options and investigating assumptions, with a clear
communication plan, compensation systems, a cultural assessment looking at the
cultural change, leader coaching, working with process teams, and integrating initiatives
focusing on key processes.

Michael Gregory Consulting can help you address these and other issues with your
clients as a trained mediator with a background in ADR, business commercial, closely
held businesses, compensation, construction, corporate finance, employment/labor
issues, emerging companies, executive compensation, intellectual property,
environmental, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, not for profits, tax (domestic,
estates, international, planning, and trusts), and wealth management.

1 Randall L. Kiser, et. al, Let’s Not Make A Deal: An Empirical Study Of Decision-Making
In Unsuccessful Settlement Negotiations, 5 J. Empirical Legal Studies 551-91 (Sept.
2008), available at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-
bin/fulltext/121400491/HTMLSTART