What is Mediation?

Mediation is a process which require all the parties to a dispute to agree to involve a third party independent neutral person (the mediator) to help them to negotiate with a view to finding an agreed solution which is acceptable to the parties.

 

In its simplest form a mediation will involve one or more initial meetings or conversations between the mediator and the parties so as to explain the process,and deal with formal aspects of the appointment. Often the mediator will arrange an initial joint opening session and may continue with this if it is proving to be useful.

 

However, the real benefit of the process comes at the next stage when the mediator will meet with each party in private session to explore interests and needs, helping to find common ground agree common objectives and deal with the emotion of being involved in conflict.

 

For that point onwards, the skill of the mediator is to find an approach which will provide the best chance of being able to resolve the conflict. This may involve further joint meetings between the parties and/or their lawyers and/or their experts, all the time helping the parties to identify and address the underlying needs and moving towards a settlement agreement.

 

At all points the mediation takes place in a confidential and “off the record” environment, enabling the parties to discuss directly, or through the mediator, possible solutions.

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Please click here to download our leaflet "Mediation - A Simple Guide".