Mediation Process - What to Expect at Mediation

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Mediation scores a goal at the world cup

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The US Women’s Soccer Team is fighting (and winning) two battles right now:  in France they are running and kicking a soccer ball with the most elite female players from around the world*; and in federal court in LA they are suing the US Soccer Federation for paying them less than the men’s team and providing inferior training and facilities.  Last Friday, both sides to the lawsuit announced they would use mediationto resolve the dispute.  (No mention was made of who the mediator will be, but yours truly is offering her mediator services!)  This is dramatic and so encouraging to all of us who practice mediation or just love women’s sports.  
Mediation is perfect for this unique situation.  It can move super-fast (I once mediated a construction case quickly to meet a construction/delivery schedule) or stay the lawsuit and its onerous discovery while the parties explore settlement.  In this case, discovery is an explosive issue.  The Soccer Federation had refused to turn over to the EEO…
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WHY WE LIKE THINGS TO REMAIN THE SAME

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Have you visited Disney World lately?  I just returned from a family vacation to the Magic Kingdom and I had such a strong sense of pleasure wandering from one favorite attraction to the next.  Flying with Peter Pan, floating on the boats of “It’s a Small World” as the song becomes stuck in my mind and walking down Main Street peeking in the windows.  I was not alone; there were plenty of other adults, unaccompanied by any kids, meandering from ride to ride.
Why?  Why do we love Disney World?  For me, it is the sameness.  I visited Disney as a kid, returned with my kids and over these 40+ years it has remained almost the same.  (Although I am quite unhappy “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” was replaced by “Winnie the Pooh.”) The expectations of guests are met; Cinderella’s castle was lit; the ghosts joined my car in the Haunted Mansion and Main Street was clean and freshly painted.  I relaxed, knowing what was expected of me, and felt safe with the status quo.  Don’t we usually feel comfortable w…
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Slogging Through Mediation

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My beloved hiking boots--I wore them hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and I treasure these boots and the trails we covered together.  But they also symbolize what happens to all of us at a mediation.  Many times mediation is a long, hard, uphill slog through the snow, mud and rocks.  Mediation can seem interminable; an all-uphill hike filled with false hopes that the end is just around the corner.  Ah, but that feeling at the end of a case when the mediation succeeds is well worth it.

I was reminded of the slog after reading a recent Illinois decision over how to divide up the estate between the decedent's four children and second wife.  After 13 hours of mediation, the five parties tentatively reached an agreement.  A written "Memorandum of Settlement" was prepared but it was so late that everyone left without signing.  One party explicitly asked if she could "sleep on it."  Another party had previously left the mediation after "only" nine …
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