Karen J. Scully Wentzell

SUBSTANDARD skills, POOR time management, LACKS good judgement - We hired this woman to mediate a case for my family, specifically an elderly parent, 2 banks & an admitted fraudster. She exhibited SUBSTANDARD SKILLS in mediation, time management & judgement. She was excellent, however, at self-pr...omotion both prior to and during the "mediation". Using what I believe was poor judgement & no consultation on her choice of accommodations, she booked herself into one of the top luxury hotels in the city, for which we were later billed. Poor time management was an issue. With 3 conference rooms full of lawyers & clients she began the day with our group presenting a 40+ minute sales presentation on herself, repeating her own statistical evidence supporting the argument that she and she alone was the only one who could resolve the case. (there were at least 5 other lawyers on the clock while she talked about herself for this time). She added she was prepared to work all day, into the night and the next week, if necessary. Five hours passed, the 3 full conference rooms of lawyers & clients went utterly unattended with no communication from her whatsoever. One conference room group finally left the building while she continued meandering with our group in unstructured circles, seemingly in a situation WAY BEYOND HER SKILL LEVEL. Her lack of skills was painful: no evidence of any plan, any order or even clear familiarity with the case. When we replaced her 3 days later, she financially penalized all parties for not keeping her to the end and was later outraged when we asked for an itemized bill. The bill we received was only partially itemized with some discretionary expenses not justified. The only ones who may have benefitted were some of the bank executives who chose to retain her services. She had explained earlier that she often benefits her institutional clients the most. Based on her performance in our case, I believe this woman was TOTALLY UNPREPARED and IN WAY OVER HER HEAD when HANDLING A COMPLEX CASE. BEST ADVICE, GO ELSWHERE FOR a mediator.