What They Really Want … Bringing Objective Evaluation into Mediation

Abstract

Bankruptcy mediators and bankruptcy mediation advocates mistakenly aver that parties in a bankruptcy mediation just want their esteemed mediator to provide the parties with her evaluation of the case in dispute. “Just give us your evaluation.” However, experienced mediators understand that what advocates are actually saying is, “Just confirm that you agree with my side.” In this chapter, I will first discuss why giving your evaluation of the case, even when both sides insist that is what they want, could begin the descent down a slippery slope that abruptly terminates the mediation. Then, I will suggest how experienced bankruptcy mediators might bring an evaluation of the case into the bankruptcy mediation, without having the evaluation come directly from the mediator.