What the Early Stages of Mediation Look Like Today

Abstract

Over the past decade or two, several mediator surveys suggest that changes have been taking place in the early stages of mediation. The surveys, however, have shed little light on what actually occurs during pre-session communications and during initial mediation sessions, be they joint sessions or separate caucuses, and on settings and case types beyond the private mediation of large civil and commercial cases. To get a sense of the current use of pre-session communications and initial joint sessions or initial separate caucuses, as well as what takes place during them, we conducted an online survey of civil and family mediators in state and federal court mediation programs and private mediation settings. The findings summarized here are based on the responses of 1,065 mediators across eight states and four regions of the United States.

Keywords: mediation, empirical research, mediator