Is Mediation A Substitute For An Adversarial System?

The legal system pushes the victim of an accident to come face-to-face with the person that appears responsible for the same accident. Some injury lawyers in Hamilton relish the chance to work in such an adversarial system. Other lawyers have chosen to become skilled at guiding the process known as mediation.

What is mediation?

It is an attempt to bring 2 opposing parties together. It is a process that a lawyer can elect to use if there is an impasse in the negotiations that are taking place between 2 opposing parties. A mediator’s guidance gets used to sway the thinking of each party.

How does the mediator act as guide?

The mediator makes no decisions and offers no opinion. Mediators simply meet with the disputing parties in a structured setting.

What is the format for those structured settings?

First each side speaks in the mediator’s presence, while the other side listens. The mediator makes sure that the speaker for each side gets to enjoy a full-say. Mediators understand how to calmly quiet any interruption.

Next each side speaks to the other side’s representative, while in the presence of the mediator. At this stage, the mediator’s role includes that of making sure that the discussion remains at an acceptable level. Mediators stand ready to quiet a heated discussion. All mediators’ ears play a big role in this stage, as well.

In the final format, the mediator meets individually with the representatives for each party. During that meeting, those representatives are coaxed to reach some type of agreement with those that have presented an opposing view. Ideally, the tactics used during each of the formats has aided the attainment of an agreement.

Remember what was mentioned earlier. All mediators’ ears play a huge role at the point where the two sides speak to each other in the mediators’ presence. Those arguments get heard and get evaluated by someone that understands how to use such comments, while mediating a dispute.

Do mediators receive any special training?

In the past, mediation services have relied heavily on the availability of retired judges. Those judges were used to hearing arguments made on two sides of an issue. Those judges understood the process of coming to a decision, and could compare that process to the one of coming to an agreement.

Now, as mediation gets used to settle a larger number of disputes, some law school students are taking classes on mediation. The students that take those classes then get to use their knowledge, by attempting to mediate an agreement between 2 disputing parties. Consequently, those young lawyers begin to appreciate the value of an alternative to the adversarial system. Hence, the alternative approach gains a much wider acceptance.