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.

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.