Although mediation is overall very successful, the reasons it fails versus when it is successful tends to establish patterns of success and failure. Preparing for mediation includes physical preparation as well as mental preparation in order to be able to make decisions from a place of clarity about a situation and with more grounded expectations about what options might be available to the parties.

If you’ve ever signed a cell phone contract, utility or virtually any other agreement for goods or services these days, you have agreed to resolve any dispute with the other party through arbitration. There are several key things about it that make it different from court, and some are both potentially beneficial or detrimental depending on circumstances.

Divorces can be a very stressful, impactful and even traumatic experience for most families, couples, children and everyone involved. Sadly though, when it gets ugly it is often made far worse along the way by the decisions of one or both of the parties.

Many people hear that mediation can be a fraction of the cost of going to court and are skeptical, or may not understand how that could be possible. While there are certainly some situations where mediation makes less sense, there are many more reasons that support the use of mediation in a wide range of scenarios.

Sometimes a dispute will settle in a way that is a little surprising. One party may accept an offer relatively early on in negotiation talks, or at a point that comes unexpectedly. This is not always a result of inexperience in negotiation, but of a conscious decision to move on and focus efforts elsewhere.

I recently had a networking chat with my friend who is a transactional real estate attorney. We spent most of our time going back and forth with horror stories of the types of things we see in our profession; Buying, selling and owning homes is generally very challenging and expensive.