How mediation works - the basics
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Michelle discusses the role of mediation in resolving legal disputes, highlighting its growth in popularity over the past 10-15 years, especially in domestic relations. Mediation serves as an alternative to court trials, allowing parties to reach amicable solutions in various disputes, from divorce to business issues. The process involves a mediator who facilitates discussions, aiming for a resolution both parties can accept. While not suitable for all cases, mediation can offer a cost-effective, confidential, and collaborative way to resolve conflicts. Michelle emphasizes the importance of compromise and understanding in achieving successful outcomes.
Takeaways
- 📚 Mediation is increasingly used in legal disputes over the past 10-15 years, especially in domestic relations.
- 👪 It's primarily used for creating agreeable visitation schedules for children or dividing assets during a divorce.
- 🤝 Mediation can also be applied to collective bargaining, employment disputes, and various business areas.
- 🤑 It's an alternative for individuals who wish to avoid the costs and formalities of court and legal representation.
- 👩⚖️ Lawyers generally prefer parties to resolve disputes themselves rather than leaving it to a judge or jury.
- 🤝 Mediation requires both parties to be invested in reaching a resolution and maintaining some form of relationship.
- 🔢 Mediation can involve multiple parties, as demonstrated in a case with five sides, requiring a strong mediator.
- 🗓️ The process involves a set date, time, and place, with fees and confidentiality agreements established beforehand.
- 🤐 Confidentiality is key in mediation, except when an agreement is reached and then breached, necessitating court intervention.
- 📝 The mediator provides parameters and educates parties on the uncertainties of litigation, emphasizing the desirability of a workable agreement.
- 💡 A successful resolution is one where neither party is fully satisfied, indicating a balanced compromise.
- 📋 Parties should request a term sheet to outline basic points and ensure deadlines are set for further formal agreements.
Q & A
What is the primary purpose of mediation in legal disputes?
-The primary purpose of mediation in legal disputes is to help parties reach an agreeable resolution, often in areas such as visitation schedules with children or division of assets in divorce cases, without resorting to a prolonged court process.
How long has mediation been prominent in legal disputes?
-Mediation has been prominent in legal disputes for about 10 to 15 years.
In which areas is mediation commonly used besides domestic relations?
-Mediation is also commonly used in collective bargaining agreements, employment disputes, and various business areas, as well as between individuals who have a dispute and wish to avoid court.
What is the general opinion of lawyers regarding mediation?
-Most lawyers, if they are honest, believe that it is better for parties to resolve their own disputes through mediation rather than turning it over to a judge or jury.
What is a key factor for successful mediation?
-A key factor for successful mediation is that both parties are motivated to reach a resolution and maintain their relationship, if applicable.
Can mediation involve more than two parties?
-Yes, mediation can involve more than two parties, although it may require a stronger mediator to manage the process effectively.
What is the role of a mediator in the process?
-The mediator's role is to facilitate communication between the parties, helping them to move closer to a resolution by understanding their positions and working within the given parameters.
What is the significance of confidentiality in mediation?
-Confidentiality in mediation ensures that discussions and information shared during the process cannot be used in court, except in cases where an agreement is reached and then ignored by one party.
What is meant by saying that a good resolution in mediation is when 'neither party is completely happy'?
-This means that a successful mediation outcome is one where both parties have compromised to some extent, indicating a balanced and fair resolution.
What is the importance of a term sheet in mediation?
-A term sheet is important in mediation as it outlines the basic points of agreement, providing a foundation for a more formal agreement and ensuring clarity on the terms and deadlines.
How can mediation help parties understand the strength or weakness of their case?
-Mediation can provide insights into the relative strength or weakness of a case by allowing parties to gauge the other side's position and potentially reach a resolution that reflects a realistic assessment of their situation.
Outlines
🤝 Mediation in Legal Disputes
This paragraph delves into the role of mediation in resolving legal disputes, particularly in the last 10 to 15 years. Michelle introduces the topic, highlighting its prevalence in domestic relations, where it's often used to establish visitation schedules and divide assets during divorces. Mediation is also recognized for its utility in collective bargaining agreements, employment disputes, and business conflicts. It's presented as an alternative to litigation, which can be costly and less controlled. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of both parties' willingness to resolve disputes and maintain relationships, noting that mediation may not be effective if one party is disinterested. The process involves a mediator agreed upon by all parties, who facilitates discussions in a confidential setting, with the goal of reaching a mutually agreeable resolution. The paragraph concludes by discussing the mediator's role in setting the parameters for the mediation, including the logistics and the confidentiality agreement, with the exception of enforcing agreements if necessary.
📝 Understanding the Mediation Process
In the second paragraph, Michelle explains the dynamics of the mediation process. She clarifies that mediation is not an informal trial but a facilitative process aimed at bringing parties closer to a resolution. The mediator's role is to gather information to maneuver discussions effectively, without bias towards the outcome. Clients are reminded that the goal is to reach a resolution that, while not perfectly satisfying to either party, is acceptable to both. The paragraph discusses the importance of obtaining a term sheet to outline basic points and deadlines, which will later be formalized into a binding agreement. Michelle also mentions the potential benefits of mediation, such as resolving major points early to save time and money, and gaining insight into the strengths and weaknesses of one's case. The paragraph ends with an invitation for viewers to engage with the content and follow the channel on social media.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mediation
💡Legal Disputes
💡Domestic Relations
💡Visitation Schedule
💡Division of Assets
💡Collective Bargaining Agreements
💡Employment Disputes
💡Mediator
💡Confidentiality
💡Term Sheet
💡Resolution
Highlights
Mediation has become increasingly prominent in legal disputes over the past 10-15 years, particularly in domestic relations.
It is commonly used by parties in a divorce to establish visitation schedules with children or divide assets.
Mediation can also be applied in collective bargaining agreements, employment disputes, and various business contexts.
It allows individuals with disputes to avoid the costs and court processes associated with litigation.
Lawyers generally advise clients that resolving disputes themselves is preferable to leaving it to a judge or jury.
Successful mediation requires both parties to be invested in reaching a resolution and maintaining their relationship.
A mediator facilitates the process, agreed upon by one or more parties, and can involve multiple sides in a dispute.
Mediation proceedings are confidential, with the exception of enforcing agreements that are disregarded by a party.
The mediator provides parameters for the process, emphasizing the uncertainties of litigation and the benefits of a mutually agreeable resolution.
A successful resolution often leaves neither party completely satisfied, indicating a balanced compromise.
Parties may submit information to the mediator in advance, some of which can be shared with the opposing side.
The mediator seeks to understand each party's position and parameters to facilitate a resolution.
Mediators do not aim to conduct an informal trial but rather to bring parties closer to a resolution.
A term sheet outlining the basic points of agreement should be requested to formalize the discussion.
Partial resolutions during mediation can streamline subsequent negotiations and reduce costs.
Mediation can provide insight into the relative strengths and weaknesses of a case, aiding in reaching a satisfactory outcome.
The video aims to provide helpful information on the mediation process for viewers.
Transcripts
foreign
hi I'm Michelle welcome back to finally
revealed in this video I want to talk
today about mediation mediation has
really come into the Forefront in legal
disputes in recent years maybe 10 15
years primarily in the area of domestic
relations mediation is used by parties
to a divorce in order to most often in
order to arrive at an agreeable
visitation schedule with children or to
agree upon a division of assets in the
event of a divorce mediation however can
also be used and is used in uh
collective bargaining agreements in
employment disputes and in a whole host
of business type areas it can also be
entered into between two individuals who
have some type of a dispute and they
don't want to sue each other or go to
court and expend the extra expenses
um of an attorney although mediation
often does involve attorneys or involve
a prolonged court process that they
don't have as much control over now
every lawyer that you talk to if they're
being honest they will tell you that
it's better for you to resolve your own
dispute than to turn it over either to a
judge or a jury and this is taking into
com into mind that keeping in mind that
the both parties are motivated to reach
a resolution and that they want to
continue on their particular
relationship if one side or the other is
not invested and is no longer interested
in maintaining any type of relationship
then mediation is not necessarily going
to give you the result that you want it
might be harder and that is because of
the inherent nature of a media creation
how a mediation works is there's a
mediator which is one person who is
agreed to by one or more signs and
mediation doesn't have to just be
between two sides I had a case where we
went to mediation and there were about
five sides we had a great mediator that
is not
um a common occurrence but it can happen
we have multiple sides and you have to
have a very strong mediator in order to
keep everything straight and to keep
things moving along how the mediation
occurs in a broad stroke is that the
parties get together at a time and a
place typically if it's court ordered
you have to be there or a representative
somebody with authority either has to be
in the room or has to be available by
some type of technology in the event
that there's information needed or a
deal is reached the mediator will have
an agreement in advance for fees to be
paid and how much those fees will be and
when the mediation will occur they will
also have an agreement that what happens
in this mediation is not going to be
capable of being discussed in a court of
law it's going to be confidential the
one exception to that is if you have a
mediation where an agreement is reached
and then one party decides to forget
about the agreement or ignore it I've
had that happen we had to go to court
and enforce it and at that point
obviously what happened in the mediation
was very important to that case
so the mediator has the agreement in
advance you have a set date time and
place you appear the mediator makes a
this speech kind of gives people the
parameters of what physically is going
to happen where people are going to to
be located and how that mediator likes
to work the general framework is the
same every time the mediator tells
people about uncertainties of litigation
about the importance or the desirability
of making an agreement that you can live
with that you know about that you
intentionally make they will also often
say that a good resolution is one where
not neither party is completely happy
okay so if everybody's a little unhappy
but you've come to something that you
can do you can live with then that's
considered to be successful
the parties may or may not well in
advance they will have presented
information particularly if an attorney
is involved they will have presented
information to the mediator in advance
some that can be shared with the other
side some that cannot sometimes the
mediator will ask what are your
parameters if there's money involved
what can you do what what is the leeway
that you have what's your Authority and
that will not be shared with the other
side then the mediator meets with one
side or the other to answer questions
about what they might have received in
advance and get a flavor for this
situation then they'll go to the other
side then they'll start taking offers
and terms back and forth one thing that
you should keep in mind and this is
something that some of my clients have
had a hard time with I have to remind
them the mediation is not an informal
trial of your problem that's not the
goal the mediator is standing in the
middle trying to figure out how to move
the parties closer together the mediator
really doesn't care how it resolves but
the mediator is looking for information
from each side about the other but about
themselves in order to maneuver the
parties closer together if there is a
resolution they will have a term sheet
and they should ask for this if if they
don't offer it a term sheet to identify
what the basic points are because
everything will have to be drawn up into
a more formal and you know protective
agreement but the basic terms and
deadlines you want to get deadlines as
to when different things will happen in
particular when the first draft will
come out and when you can have this
signed by and in both parties will sign
it and then go their separate ways you
won't always be able to resolve
everything in the radiation but you may
be able to get one or two major points
out of the way for example in a divorce
case that will save you time and money
later and give you some certainty and
then kind of diffuse some of those other
arguments and let you focus more on
other issues it's a good tool when used
properly it can also give you an idea as
to the relative strength or weakness of
your particular case and hopefully
it will help you to get a result that
you can live with
I hope this is helpful to you if you
like this video let us know by liking
subscribing sharing and for other videos
you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook
at Finally Revealed thanks and I'll see
you next time
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