Facilitative mediators prefer to maximize time in joint session, because the parties are the decision-makers and together they can create their own unique resolution of their conflict. But there are times when it is not advisable for parties to be together in the same room, e.g., when the emotional tension between them would make any […]

With apologies to the U.S. Postal Service, I just took another step towards electronic-only correspondence: for the first time, I sent out information to mediation parties solely via email. Until now*, I have always followed up the email and attachments with a printed paper version sent via U.S. mail. This time, with the attorneys’ consent, I […]

I have always used the words “conflict” and “dispute” inter-changeably. The dictionary definitions seem to show, as law school professors would say, a distinction without a difference. So I am grateful to Brian Muldoon of HeartWorks Mediation Center, keynote speaker at this year’s ANDRI, for offering a way to distinguish them: He says a “dispute” […]