Safety in Mediation
Do You Need an Attorney to Represent You in Mediation? Most people mediate without either party being represented. It is most efficient and most secure to consult with an attorney once you have the draft general judgment in hand and before any formal agreement is entered. If you want greater legal safety, an attorney can help coach you through the entire process. Once the emotional and narrative parts have been resolved, the attorney can help provide “the community standard of fairness,” and help apply it to the facts of your case. If you would feel safer having an attorney representing you, you can even bring them to the mediation if you want.
See Using Attorneys for more clarity on how lawyers can make wonderful contributions to the mediation process and how to plan for and balance their use in creating your mediation.
Collaboration Law as a Legally Safe Decision-Making Process. If you feel uneasy about the mediation process, you might consider simply entering the Collaborative Process, which has both of you represented by attorneys and both attorneys and both parties entering into a legal contract to not use the court until everything is agreed. Everyone agrees by contract that the attorneys will not represent the parties in court, if they are unsuccessful in resolving their issues. For referral to that process, see Therapist Referrals page.
For people who feel they want a skilled professional helping them through every step, formal Collaboration does that outside of the trial process. This process has both parties represented by attorneys who have been specially trained in the collaborative process.
Both attorneys then participate in what is usually a problem solving process but can be a process similar to a skilled co-mediation provided by the attorneys trained in Collaboration. The attorneys explore the interests of each client opening and attempting to meet both clients’ interests.
To read through the Web Site as designed go to Using Attorneys. See Collaboration Contract if you are interested in reviewing a typical Collaborative Contract. See Useful Resources for a list of local trained Collaborative Attorneys.
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