Mediation

A dispute resolution method designed to help warring parties resolve their own dispute without going to court. In mediation, a neutral third party (the mediator) meets with the opposing sides to help them find a mutually satisfactory solution. Unlike a judge in her courtroom or an arbitrator conducting a binding arbitration, the mediator has no power to impose a solution. No formal rules of evidence or procedure control mediation; the mediator and the parties usually agree on their own informal ways to proceed. Mediations can occur with “joint sessions” where the parties meet together and speak face to face. In mediations, the parties are in separate rooms and the mediator goes back and forth between the rooms conveying demands and counteroffers until the parties reach a conclusion or determine that settlement is not then possible.