Mediation versus litigation

Many people ask me why bother with mediation? After all if they could agree they wouldn't be here, need me, etc... But the fact is with mediation, or for that matter any alternative dispute resolution vehicle, the parties are really in the "driver's seat". Instead of the Court telling the parties the results, the parties make the decisions that are best for their family themselves. Lawyers are useful at mediation to help the parties know the likely results in Court and to help the parties stay on task actively working on resolution. In mediation, lawyers serve mostly as problem solvers rather than adversarial litigators. Some cases can't or aren't solved through mediation and some are solved beforehand through direct discussion. But on the whole, for most cases mediation is very useful resource. This week I attended 1 mediation and I believe I have 5 or 6 set in then next 30 days. My hope is that all of them end with a satisfactory agreement.