Mediators are the professionals who are always caught in the middle of huge battles that they personally have nothing to do with. However, they still come under fire and get accused of taking another party’s side, among other things from time to time—usually when a party doesn’t understand mediation or what the mediator’s goal is.

Just before California’s eviction moratorium was set to expire at the end of June, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new legislation which extended the moratorium through the end of September. In addition, the bill also made more of the $5.2 billion in rental relief accessible.

When preparing for mediation or when involved in conflict in general, it is important to have an understanding of the facts surrounding the issues—or at the very least, the ones you can reasonably investigate yourself or through your attorney. This seems obvious, but being thorough is vitally important! This will help you make good decisions for yourself and help you avoid unnecessary expenses.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in mediation and witnessed a fact revealed that ended up changing entire underlying issues that the parties already spent fighting over, but likely could have avoided altogether. Miscommunications and misunderstandings happen when we fail to hear each other or perceive things through a very subjective lens of what we might fear or anticipate from the other party.

With such a high demand for homes and so few going up on the market, there is now quite the real estate bubble building. Homes have greatly appreciated in many areas because of this, and while it might be a good time to buy for certain homebuyers, others could be better off exploring alternatives and waiting things out a bit longer.

The average adult spends roughly 40 hours per week working, many of whom are alongside coworkers, supervisors, management and others on a weekly basis. Surely, not everyone is going to vibe well together. When things begin to escalate to a certain level, everyone in the workplace could become negatively affected.