As a legal professional dealing with a client's conflict you actually have a choice: you can file an action in court, or you can introduce your client to mediation.
Your client may need to know that often a conflict can be resolved without the costs of court and attendant legal fees. This may be the case in a broad spectrum of cases such as discrimination, or the parent of a special-education student seeking more services from a school.
Because there's always two sides to a conflict, mediators don't decide who's right, they guide a discussion so the disputants can more wisely reach agreement and move on with their lives. Mediation is a profession that offers a great deal of satisfaction to those who can bring two differing opinions together. You will be helping people beat their swords into plowshares; and at the same time, saving your client a great deal of money.
Most legal professionals will tell you: If we can't solve a conflict, we tend to give up or hire a lawyer. However, there may be an alternative to a law suit by using mediation. Mediation offers a process by which two parties work towards an agreement with the aid of a neutral third party. Litigation, however, is a process in which the courts impose binding decisions on the disputing parties in a determinative process operating at the level of legal rights and obligations. These two processes sound completely different, but both are a form of dispute resolution. Litigation is conventionally used and conventionally accepted, but Mediation is slowly becoming more recognized as a successful tool in dispute resolution. Slowly these processes are becoming inter-dependent, as the Courts in some cases are now referring parties to Mediation. In saying this, there are distinct differences between the two processes. Mediation claims to resolve many of the problems associated with litigation, such as the high costs involved, the formality of the court system and the complexity of the court process. Mediation does not create binding agreements unless the parties consent to it, and the Mediator has no say in the outcome. Even though our court system and mediation have increasing connections, they still reflect different value assumptions and structural approaches towards dispute resolution.
Mediators use appropriate techniques and/or skills to open and/or improve dialogue between disputants, aiming to help the parties reach an agreement (with concrete effects) on the disputed matter. Normally, all parties must view the mediator as impartial. Mediation can apply in a variety of disputes. These include commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and divorce or other family matters.
A variety of disputes, including commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and divorce or other family matters can all be applied to Mediation. Major law firms often include mediators who are paralegals within the firm who have gone to a 30-to-40 hour training course in mediation to further themselves professionally in the workplace. Barriers to entry are low, so there are more mediators than there are mediation jobs for a paralegal; at least this is so initially.
Until mediators develop a reputation, they must schmooze with potential referral sources, write articles or give talks on mediation, perhaps blog or create a YouTube video, and certainly find well-connected champions willing to recommend them. Ironically, success may be more likely in a slow economy as people and businesses seek lower-cost alternatives to attorneys to solve their disputes.
Here is an example for a mediator whose specialty is employment mediation: The week before Thanksgiving, Janet had been downsized after 10 years with her company, and she is suing for wrongful termination. In the mediation, her emotions pour out. Not only is she angry that she was let go merely so the company could hire someone cheaper in India, but she has no relatives and has always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with co-workers. This year, she will be alone. Everyone is moved by Janet's story, and the company offers her a more generous severance package and a permanent invitation to all company social events. Not thrilled but mollified, she agreed.
Your client may need to know that often a conflict can be resolved without the costs of court and attendant legal fees. This may be the case in a broad spectrum of cases such as discrimination, or the parent of a special-education student seeking more services from a school.
Because there's always two sides to a conflict, mediators don't decide who's right, they guide a discussion so the disputants can more wisely reach agreement and move on with their lives. Mediation is a profession that offers a great deal of satisfaction to those who can bring two differing opinions together. You will be helping people beat their swords into plowshares; and at the same time, saving your client a great deal of money.
Most legal professionals will tell you: If we can't solve a conflict, we tend to give up or hire a lawyer. However, there may be an alternative to a law suit by using mediation. Mediation offers a process by which two parties work towards an agreement with the aid of a neutral third party. Litigation, however, is a process in which the courts impose binding decisions on the disputing parties in a determinative process operating at the level of legal rights and obligations. These two processes sound completely different, but both are a form of dispute resolution. Litigation is conventionally used and conventionally accepted, but Mediation is slowly becoming more recognized as a successful tool in dispute resolution. Slowly these processes are becoming inter-dependent, as the Courts in some cases are now referring parties to Mediation. In saying this, there are distinct differences between the two processes. Mediation claims to resolve many of the problems associated with litigation, such as the high costs involved, the formality of the court system and the complexity of the court process. Mediation does not create binding agreements unless the parties consent to it, and the Mediator has no say in the outcome. Even though our court system and mediation have increasing connections, they still reflect different value assumptions and structural approaches towards dispute resolution.
Mediators use appropriate techniques and/or skills to open and/or improve dialogue between disputants, aiming to help the parties reach an agreement (with concrete effects) on the disputed matter. Normally, all parties must view the mediator as impartial. Mediation can apply in a variety of disputes. These include commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and divorce or other family matters.
A variety of disputes, including commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and divorce or other family matters can all be applied to Mediation. Major law firms often include mediators who are paralegals within the firm who have gone to a 30-to-40 hour training course in mediation to further themselves professionally in the workplace. Barriers to entry are low, so there are more mediators than there are mediation jobs for a paralegal; at least this is so initially.
Until mediators develop a reputation, they must schmooze with potential referral sources, write articles or give talks on mediation, perhaps blog or create a YouTube video, and certainly find well-connected champions willing to recommend them. Ironically, success may be more likely in a slow economy as people and businesses seek lower-cost alternatives to attorneys to solve their disputes.
Here is an example for a mediator whose specialty is employment mediation: The week before Thanksgiving, Janet had been downsized after 10 years with her company, and she is suing for wrongful termination. In the mediation, her emotions pour out. Not only is she angry that she was let go merely so the company could hire someone cheaper in India, but she has no relatives and has always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with co-workers. This year, she will be alone. Everyone is moved by Janet's story, and the company offers her a more generous severance package and a permanent invitation to all company social events. Not thrilled but mollified, she agreed.
About the Author:
It is important to know that anyone considering a career in mediation services should find interest in these articles. The responsibility of anyone involved with arbitration or mediation is to be unprejudiced and unbiased.
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