The Expert Podcast

So what should you try to accomplish or expect to be accomplished when you do a mediation ? If you're involved in a dispute with another party maybe it's a . Court case litigation . Maybe it's some type of contract dispute employment dispute . At some point , the idea of mediation will be presented or maybe even required Many jurisdictions require that litigants in a civil case . Undertake mediation prior to going into the case . So what should you be trying to accomplish when you do the mediation Well obviously if it's a requirement , One of the accomplishments is getting it done so you can get the court if the court or the judge or the jurisdiction requires mediation Do you have to do it You have to check off that box but . Is there more that you can get from that mediation event that experience that might help you ? With your result with the . Overall X the overall outcome of your case . And here's how a mediation . can help First of all . If the mediation can come to a conclusion . That is satisfactory for you and for the other party . You can avoid having to go to court and you want to do that . Believe me when I tell you . We have seen hundreds and hundreds of court cases . Over the course of our experience . At the end of every single case even the winner of the case is not glad that they have to go through the process The loser obviously hates it . The winner is no ha . And the happier either they may have gotten back to where they were before the case . If they had losses maybe they recover some of their losses but it's never a windfall . It's emotionally draining . You may not see that going in . But at the end of the case , you're going to wish that you never even went there . Plus you're going to be out a lot of attorney's fees . And even not even the attorney likes going to court . If you talk . to . Your legal representative and you ask them or even look at the activity in the case . Most attorneys want to do all the activity by motions . depositions they don't want to go to court . Even though they're getting paid for it . court is the least . Appealing desirable activity that attorneys do ask them Don't take our word for it Ask them we work with attorneys all the time . Nobody wants to be in court and the court itself the judge they don't want you in court either . That's why they're . Suggesting mediation . So what can a mediation do Well , first of all it can lay out the possible outcomes that you might have . It might start to give you an idea of your best case Wishful thinking scenario might not be as practical as you would expect . It might also show where you and the other party how already have a lot of common ground . The fact that you haven't spoken directly to one another or , you know once the car . started it's all been an argument . Might have . Blinded both parties to the fact that really . More than half of what you're arguing about You agree on , there may be a couple of sticking points that could be resolved . But most of the time we do a mediation or any type of , conversation or a dispute resolution . Or even facilitation . We find the parties already agree on most things They just don't know it . Here's a good metaphor . Let's say you're driving down the street . At night . And a car's coming at you with their high beams on , and now you put your high beams on . Now you're both blind . You're both not seeing what the other cars doing that can result in a head-on collision . That's what you have with a . Crisis litigation You have a head-on collision about ready to happen . Your court case will be head-on collision maybe one or both of you survived a collision . But no one's going to like it . So why not both turn off the high beams ? C where you both have agreement . And come to some kind of conclusion . You don't have to give up your principles . You don't have to give up your pride . To get a resolution you want . Most of the things that you and the other party want are probably aligned . And in fact , if there are Places of the dispute which people don't agree on . It's very likely . That the correct answer is neither of the parties . Intentions . Right . So if there's one point of contention that both parties want and they don't agree on . It's usually the case Not always but usually the case that neither party is right Both parties are wrong They're both extreme . And the right answer is somewhere in the middle There's that old saying ? You know there's three sides to every story . Yours mine and the . And the truth , right . And with Conflicts and court cases that's usually the case Usually the answer is somewhere in between now maybe closer to one side or the other That's fair enough . And sometimes one person is genuinely being . acting in bad faith That's fair enough And , you know some people are just , hard to deal with But a Skilled . An expert . Mediator facilitator . Arbitrator whatever you want to call them . Can help . Find those common grounds and help diffuse the situation . Not in a way that you have to you're not forced to accept anything . Look mediations Non-binding anyways . Whatever the mediator says they're not going to tell you what you have to do when you're forced to do it . All they can do is help . Bring the thing together , even if the mediation . By itself doesn't come to a settlement . Before the trial . Before the case goes to court . What it can do is . Make the court process more palatable It can make it last less . Long and time in terms of time , it can cut down your legal expenses Cause you might have to , you might not have to argue so many points Some of the points may already be settled in mediation You still might have to go to court to have a judge decide a few of the things . But mediation even if it doesn't keep you out of court , it can minimize court And that by itself can be a huge thing Look . Mediation . Mike costs three four or 500 bucks whatever it costs But if you save one or two hours of your attorney's billable hours , it paid for itself . Your attorney I'm sure is billing two or three or $400 an hour maybe more . And if the mediation can help Shorten the time that your attorney has to be in court or shorten the number of hearings . Or maybe shorten the number of back and forth . Communications with the other party because I'm sure you're getting your legal bills . You're seeing bill time for your attorney talking to the other attorney guaranteed You're seeing that . The mid the mediation can help reduce that . And look , we're not taking any food out of the mouth of the attorney You ask the attorney they would rather your case be settled more quickly They don't want to just keep churning and billing your hours They want to get it over with . They want to help customers and clients get to a conclusion . That's what a good mediator can do . So consider that with any type of conflict whether it's a full blown court conflict or even something less intense like a contract dispute or , working together with . a party that's trying to maybe do some development . You want to have somebody that helps . Neutralize the conflict between the two it's almost like a translator , right ? When you and the other part of your communicating , even though you're both speaking the same language . Your intentions about what you want to do . Might Almost make it seem like you're speaking a foreign language because your needs are different than theirs . You want to have somebody that can see both sides eco . Hear you out hear what you have to say not interrupt You hear the entirety . T of your . Intentions I hear the other side too . Without you having to listen to them because look you don't want to hear the other side . You want to . It's painful to hear what they have to say . So let the , the mediator or hear both sides I put the parts that need to be heard on the table . Suggest . Some ways to diffuse and and , downplay some of the key points . Maybe get to an answer but even if you don't . Keep the court process at a minimum . Let us know what you think of the comments about this type of dispute resolution . From a neutral third party . And how it might help you or how it's helped you in the past .