Are Lawyers the Enemy of Mediation?

People are often suprised to learn that the Mediation Center gets the majority of referrals from laywers.  Three lawyers serve on our Board of Directors.  A significant portion of donors are lawyers.  Nearly always, when we call a lawyer to tell them that their client has been referred to mediation, they say "Great!  That is the best thing for them". 

Why are these lawyers so supportive of a non-profit that serves their potential clients for free?

1. Lawyers want their clients to find resolution.   Some issues aren't really legal issues, or are a combination of legal and non-legal issues.  Take the recent post about Ed and Paul and their gravel driveway. Rules limit the types of things that can be taken into account in court.  Mediaiton allows for more flexibility in how people express themselves and what issue they put on the table.

2. Lawyers know that mediation works.  In her blog, Diane Levin, a Boston attorney and mediator explores Bridging the Divide Between Lawyers and Mediators.  She even suggests that lawyers can "raid a mediator's tool box" to enhance their own negotiation skills.

3. Lots of lawyers are mediators. They know that mediation works because they do it all the time.

4. A lawyer may believe that their client has a better chance of achieving a good outcome in mediation than in the court room.   According to the American Bar Association,

"Participants in mediation report higher satisfaction rates than people who go to court. Because of their active involvement, they have a higher commitment to upholding the settlement than people who have a judge decide for them. Mediations end in agreement 70 to 80% of the time and have high rates of compliance".

Thank you to all the Buncombe County lawyers who work with the Mediation Center. 
I'd love to hear from more of you about why you give your support.

But I Just Want to Go to Court!

Can't the court just decide who's right and who's wrong?  Sure, but it might not be the best option:

Take this example of a criminal case referred to mediation:
Paul at the top of a mountain in rural Buncombe county.  The only way to get to his house is to use a driveway that goes through his neighbor Ed's property, and their property deeds say that that the driveway is an easement for access.  Paul and Ed are mutually responsible for upkeep, which means that a load of gravel needs to be brought in from time to time. 

Ed has been frustrated since April when Paul's daughter Eileen turned 16 and got a driver's license.  Eileen drives her new pickup at top speed up the driveway, kicking the gravel off the road.  Ed called Paul and asked him to tell Eileen to stop driving so fast.  Paul hung up.   A few days later, Ed saw Paul out in his yard and approached him.  Paul told him to get off his property.  Ed refused to leave until they could have a conversation.  Paul went inside and called the police, who issued a second degree trespass warrant against Ed.   On the first court date, the district attorney suggested that the neighbors try mediation before proceeding in court. 

Paul doesn't want mediation - Ed was on his property, didn't leave when he was asked, and the court should punish him for tresspassing.  Ed isn't sure about mediation because he is sure that the judge will see that Paul was wrong to let his daughter drive so fast, so he will be found not guilty and Paul will be proved wrong.

As it turns out, Ed and Paul agree to mediation.  During mediation, Paul shares that he and Ed used to work together at a furniture plant that had some finanical problems, and Paul was laid off while Ed wasn't.  Ed shared that he had always felt terrible about Paul losing his job, especially because Eileen was a newborn.  Ed never understood why he hadn't been laid off first.  Paul apologized to Ed and said that it was in his best interest also to ask Eileen to slow down, since he would have to pay his part of the load of gravel.  Ed apologized for not leaving Paul's property when he was asked.   They agreed to get a new load of gravel, and Paul said that he would pay 60% instead of half. 

The American Bar Association has a good list of the advantages of mediation: ABA - Advantages of Mediation.  Criminal courts aren't set up to resolve hurt feelings - it's just not what they do.  Imagine Paul and Ed's relationship for the next decade if Ed had been found guilty.

Mediation is not depressing

When I tell someone where I work, people often say "wow - that must be so depressing" or "it must be so stressful to be around all that conflict".  More often than not, mediation is simply inspiring. 

Mediators don't solve people's problems for them, and they rarely offer suggestions.  Instead, they walk the parties through a process to ensure that they hear each other, clarify the issues, engage in brainstorming, find solutions that will work for everyone, and create a concrete plan to move forward.   The mediation process is the same for working with gang members, addressing a Medicaid benefit dispute, or helping a non-profit board.  

Particpants come up with ideas that the mediator would never have thought of.   Mediation draws from the strengths, knowledge, and desires of the people involved, and people know more about what will work for themselves than a mediator could ever guess.  90% of all disputes get worked out in just a couple of hours. That's not depressing.

I like this quote about the power of working together to find solutions: http://mediationblog.blogspot.com/2005/04/mediation-quote-of-week-april-4-2005.html
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Welcome to the Mediation Center's blog. I'm Laura Jeffords, Executive Director of the Mediation Center. You'll be hearing from me and from our fabulous staff who work hard to carry out our mission of creating opportunity from confict.

The Mediation Center is growing. We want to share the excitement about the Buncombe County Gang Violence Prevention Project, the Family Visitation Program, and our mediation services. Last year, the Mediation Center served more than 3,000 people in our commuity from young people at risk for gang involvement, to community organizations with conflict resolution needs.

We strive to see the gaps in Buncombe County services so we can change and expand to meet new needs. We hope that you will consider becoming involved.

For starters, check out our webpage at http://www.mediatebuncombe.org/.