How Mediation Has Changed Over the Years (And Why It Works Better Today)

In this quick video, we dive into how joint opening sessions at mediation have shifted from dramatic, adversarial showdowns in the ’90s and early 2000s to something much more constructive today. Instead of attorneys putting on mini-opening statements to fight their case, today’s approach focuses on setting clear ground rules and keeping communication open and informative for everyone involved.

This modern, collaborative approach helps set a completely different tone right from the start. Most importantly, shifting away from adversarial presentations ultimately leads to far better results and helps resolve more cases successfully.

Curious to learn more about how this updated process works and why it’s so effective? Press play on the video above to check out the full discussion! 

 

 

Video Transcript

0:00 Intro
0:28 Changes In Mediation
1:02 A Healthier Resolution

0:00 Intro

When I frequently represented parties at mediation back in the mid ’90s, early 2000s, it was very typical for the joint opening session to be kind of an elaborate, sometimes dramatic presentation. The attorneys would kind of put on a mini opening argument regarding the case, sometimes with evidence, maybe even with a video presentation.

0:28 Changes In Mediation

These days though, I don’t see that anymore. Today, it seems like the trend—and in fact what I do when I serve as mediator—if I have a joint opening session, there are not presentations by the attorneys. It’s not an adversarial session. It is truly just an informative session so that I, as mediator, can give everyone the rules of mediation and make sure that I’m saying it the same to everyone involved.

1:02 A Healthier Resolution

It really starts things off in a different way. And I think it’s probably for the best. I think it leads us to get more matters resolved at mediation.