Guidelines to Prepare for Your Mediation

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Guidelines to Prepare for Your Mediation
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This is a guideline to prepare for Mediation
Services in Los Angeles, California. While court
hearings are public, mediation remains strictly
confidential so it is really a benefit to
settling your family matters in mediation. A
mediator may charge a fee comparable to that of
an attorney but the mediation process generally
takes much less time than moving a case through
standard legal channels. Doing it through the
legal system can take months or years to resolve.
Mediation usually achieves a resolution in a
matter of hours and avoids the years of lawyer
fees. The history of mediation goes back to
Ancient Greece, where village elders used to
mediate local disputes between villagers. Then it
was prevalent in Roman law, which was the basis
of civil law and eventually common law. Now
mediation is a form of professional service and
used in Los Angeles and California by many. It is
also known as Alternative dispute
resolution (ADR). This is a collective term for
the ways that parties can settle disputes, with
the help of a third party. However, ADR is also
increasingly being adopted as a tool to help
settle disputes alongside the court system itself
or as a substitute. In Los Angeles there is an
ADR department that works with the Police
department and the City Attorneys Office.
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Preparation To prepare for Mediation Services in
Los Angeles you should pick a mediator that has
family law experience. Preparatory steps for
mediation can vary according to the willingness
of the parties to participate. In some
court-connected mediation programs, courts
require disputants to prepare for mediation by
making a statement or summary of the subject of
the dispute and then bringing the summary to the
mediation. In other cases, determining the
matter's hand can become part of the mediation
itself. Hopefully the mediator can ensure that
all participants are ready to discuss the dispute
in a reasonably objective fashion. Then provide
reasonable estimates of loss and/or damage,
identify other participants and make sure no
interpreters are needed. Make sure the venue
fosters the discussion, addresses any special
needs, protects privacy and allows ample
discussion time, you dont want to run out of
time. Ensure you have supporting information such
as pictures, documents, corporate records,
pay-stubs, rent-rolls, receipts, medical reports,
bank-statements, etc, available.
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Make sure that both of the parties sign a
contract that addresses procedural decisions,
including confidentiality, mediator payment,
communication technique, before the mediation.
Keep an open mind and keep calm. If you are
unsure and feel uneasy about an issue, take a
note and come back to it, dont cave into
pressure. Have an idea of what you can live
without and what you cannot. Maybe only certain
issues can be addressed and prepare yourself that
you might have to use the court for a select few
of the issues if things cannot be mediated.
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