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CHOOSING A MEDIATOR

© Joan Fumia

Let's suppose you've studied up on conflict resolution and believe you should use mediation to settle your dispute (for information on the various types of conflict resolution, read the July 27th article, "Can the Solution Fit the Dispute?"). What's the next step? For some, it will be finding a mediator.

I found several articles on the Web that offered useful suggestions for choosing a mediator. As you might expect, the most basic advice is the same as that given for selecting a physician, attorney, or any other professional: decide what kind of assistance you need, get referrals by word of mouth or from professional organizations, check training and experience, interview selected candidates, and determine whose fees fit your budget. For a good presentation of that advice in the context of mediation, see the article, "Five Steps to Choosing a Qualified Mediator," found on the The Mediation Information and Resource Center web site, http://www. mediate.com/about/choose.cfm.

The Academy of Family Mediators, an organization of neutrals specializing in divorce and other family issues, also offers in summary form suggestions for selecting a mediator, including consideration of the requirements for certification by that organization. The information can be found at http://www. mediators.org/afmref.html.

Because of the role a mediator plays in a mediation, there may be questions of style and expertise in a specific area that should be considered when making a selection. An article by Arthur A. Chaykin on the American Arbitration Association web site, http://www.adr.org/rightmed.html, does a good job of distinguishing between adjudicative and process-oriented mediators and also discusses the importance of matching a particular mediation style with the dispute at hand. An adjudicative mediator will emphasize outcome, i.e., settlement, and might be the perfect choice in a situation where, for example, the dispute is over how to divide a finite entity, or where the choices are either/or rather than endless. A process-oriented mediator, on the other hand, might be more helpful in a fluid situation, where the way a decision is reached is ultimately more important than the actual settlement, - such as determining the parameters of a familial relationship.

Most mediators start out as something else, many as lawyers, and there is an ongoing controversy over the importance of legal training for professional mediators. Indeed, in some states only attorneys receive court appointments to act as mediators. However, the skills necessary to be a good mediator are not developed through legal training, and, as a matter of fact, standard legal training that emphasizes adversarial skills might actually undermine one's innate mediation abilities. Also, many disputes, even those that are being litigated, can often be resolved between the parties in a nonlegal fashion, but knowledge of legal precedent could hinder a mediator from facilitating such a settlement. These issues are well-argued in the article, "Should A Mediator Also Be An Attorney?" by Cris M. Currie, on the MIRC web site at http://www.

The copyright of the article CHOOSING A MEDIATOR in Conflict Resolution is owned by Joan Fumia. Permission to republish CHOOSING A MEDIATOR in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.