1' you decide to file a lawsuit (or you are sued by someone else), detailed rules dictate the state, county,and courthouse where you’ll have to wage your court battle.
In contrast, you will often be free to choose where and by whom you will have your case mediated. Depending on where you live and what kind of dispute you are involved in, there may be several mediators or mediation services available.
This chapter will help you choose the right mediator for your dispute.As you evaluate the available options, you might have some or all of these goals in mind:
• Convincing the other party to mediate. You can’t mediate alone. Therefore, if the other party is reluctant to mediate, you’ll want to select a mediator or mediation service that will be able to get that party to the table. Often, mediation services do a better job than independent mediators at getting reluctant parties to mediate. These services usually have staff members (often called “case managers”) whose job includes explaining mediation to the parties and persuading them to give it a try. Services are also more likely to have printed materials available that will explain the process and assuage the concerns of a reluctant party.
• Finding a mediator with the right combination of skills. The success of your mediation may well be determined by the skills your mediator brings to the table. Two types of skills are necessary: process skills (the ability to conduct an effective mediation) and subject-matter knowledge (an understanding of the particular issues in dispute, sometimes including technical information). In complex cases, such as business disputes involving multiple issues and parties, you’ll want a mediator with the process skills to handle a complicated case and the subject-matter know-how to understand the legal and technical aspects of the dispute. Often, a private mediation service is the best place to find mediators who specialize in particular subjects (such as intellectual property or employment issues).
• Getting the most bang for your buck.
Obviously, you will want to pay as little as possible for the services you need. If you will mediate at a community mediation center or through a court-connected program, cost won’t be an issue—these services are generally available free or for a nominal fee. But if you hire an independent mediator or use a private mediation service, you should compare prices and quality of service. For example, if the same mediator works occasionally for a mediation service and also has a private practice, you’ll probably find that you can hire the mediator directly for a much lower rate than you would pay to use the same mediator through a mediation service. The smaller your case, the more you need to worry about cost—after all, you don’t want the costs of mediation to eat up all of the money you hope to gain (or stand to lose).This chapter will help you meet these goals while finding a mediator who can help you resolve your dispute. Here, we explain the types of mediators and mediation services available (Section A), how to gather leads to mediators and services you may want to use (Section B), how to choose the right mediation service (Section C) and how to choose the right mediator—either a mediator in private practice or one of the mediators available through a mediation service (Section D).
A.