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Mediation and Dispute Resolution Services
If you have found your way to this website, you are probably either involved in a dispute yourself or are a lawyer respresenting a party in a case where negotiations have not been successful. Maybe you have been ordered by the rules of a court to go to mediation. Now you need a mediator.
What prevents parties from settling cases themselves before mediation? Our experience is that the most common reason is fear. Fear that you will make an offer that is rejected. Fear that you will offer terms that are to generous. Fear that you don't understand the other side's position. Fear that the other side has evidence you don't know about. Fear that the other party doesn't want to settle. And fear that the other side will "win."
So why pick us as your mediator? We know that everyone wants to settle their dispute. No sensible person enjoys litigation. The parties just haven't found a way to negotiate their way to a settlement. In more than 35 years of litigation, we have not met anyone who would not prefer to see a case end if there were a way to negotiate a fair settlement.
We view mediation as an extension of the negotiation process. Only the parties themselves can settle the case so they must negotiate if they are to reach agreement. But clearly they need help. If the parties to a dispute could negotiate a settlement by themselves, they wouldn't need a mediator. The fact is that a skillful mediator can help settle the vast majority of cases. We know this from data and from our own experience. Nearly all cases settle eventually. The question is: how much more time and expense do you want to spend before getting there?
When we mediate cases, our goal is to reduce or eliminate irrational fear by serving as a neutral, independent, confidential sounding board. We make sure that the other side hears your view of the dispute. We make sure that you hear what the other side has to say. Most of all, we try to get both sides to stop focusing on their positions and to start focusing on the issues in the dispute. To stop thinking about personalities or prior positions, and to start focusing on what they each need from a settlement.
We work hard to focus on issues, not personalities. We work hard to get both sides to view the dispute as something that can be resolved. Because data and experience show that nearly all disputes settle before trial, we try hard not to let either side walk away until they have learned all they can about the other side's viewpoint and the other side's evidence. Most of all, we will challenge both sides to explain to the other, through the mediator, what they really need to settle the case with dignity.
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