More Reasons to Try Mediation

If you've read any of my prior posts, you probably don't need more convincing that mediation is a great way to solve a dispute while saving time and money or that mediation can offer more creative solutions than the court can to deal with complex issues and problems. But in case you're still not sure mediation is worth your effort, read on for excerpts from various articles from the internet:

From the Tucson Citizen: While some parties are relieved to be introduced to mediation, Quiros said, others continue to balk. "People often feel mediation is touchy-feely or they give up control," Quiros said. "It's quite the opposite. Even though there is a third party facilitating, the control of the outcome is completely in the party's hands - there's no judge, no jury."

From the Pittsburg Post-Gazzette: Mediation is private and confidential. Most often the mediator is an attorney, knows neither party and has no stake in the outcome. Nothing said to the mediator in mediation is permissible in a court of law.

From the Harrisonburg, Virginia Daily News-Recorder: Every March, Virginia celebrates one of the most effective, inclusive and thoughtful methods of resolving conflict - mediation. Mediation is a way for people to come together and work things out. Trained mediators help people to bring issues to the table and to sort them out...Mediators simply guide the conversation without taking sides or telling participants what to do. Mediators help people through the stress, anger, confusion and suspicions of the other party to find solutions.

Business Day Interview of mediator Wahida Parker: [] At Equilaw we believe that it’s multi-tiered dispute resolution - that’s a phrase that was coined by Professor Butler. What we mean is it’s one step in the process to resolving disputes - if a mediation is not settled, and our statistics show that 80% of matters that are mediated on are settled at the mediation [] the remaining 20% then can elect either to go to court, or to go to arbitration. That is why we say it’s a multi-tiered dispute. If you say alternate that means it’s the other choice - a completely different choice - and we don’t agree with that stance.

And, from the Edwardville Intelligencer: "...people come out of [mediation] having controlled their fate and agreeing to something, rather than having a jury decide. A lot of times people think the jury was wrong, so at least [in mediation] the parties decided."