Mediation is both a form and continuation of negotiation. The ability to negotiate well is a core skill of a successful litigator.

Members of local conservation commissions, zoning boards, and the like may be volunteers, but their power to regulate the use and enjoyment of property is a government function that carries with it the constitutional responsibility to afford permit applicants due process and equal protection of the law. Put simply, it means that property owners have a right to notice, a hearing, and fair, consistent application of the law among similarly situated applicants.

The traveler in Robert Frost’s famous poem encounters two roads diverged and tells his listeners: “I…I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference.” The poem has been celebrated for its choice of the unconventional. However, that may not really be what Frost is saying. The roads “equally lay” and were “just as fair; and “worn really about the same.” In addition to the speaker’s stammer, “I…I took…”, his decision is made “with a sigh.” A better case can be made that Frost is considering anxiously and with indecision a life choice, something very far from a certainty and without a simple answer. And the look back “ages and ages hence” is an after-the- fact over-dramatization of that early decision that really had no right answer.

Among the most famous of Justice Louis D. Brandeis’s proclamations is his firm belief that where governmental decision-making is concerned, “Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants.” Brandeis could not have predicted how his words would be interpreted more than 90 years later, but he would be surprised at some of the new ways government officials have found to secrete their deliberations. The expansion of local governments and technological innovations have provided unprecedented access to the machinations of lawmakers. But those same improvements have also created new opportunities for undisclosed deliberations that deprive the people of their right to a free and open government.

Hanify & King is pleased to announce that Daniel J. Dwyer, Thomas P. Harrison, and Karen A. Whitley have been named as Shareholders. The three attorneys, all previously Associates with the firm’s Business Litigation, Corporate and Real Estate, and Employment practices, consistently earn the high praise and confidence of clients and we greatly value and appreciate their leadership.