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Preparing for a mediation

You are probably aware of the 5P’s, being: ‘proper preparation prevents poor performance’. Mediation, and your preparation to attend and resolve your dispute, should be treated no differently.

Mediation may well be the final opportunity each party has to resolve the dispute prior to an often lengthly and expensive trial process. Therefore, to make the most of the opportunity to resolve the dispute, it’s important to attend the mediation with:

  • a short statement, to be used as your opening statement. Try to be as concise and precise as possibly, including a brief background and description of the dispute, the key issues you believe require addressing, and what you hope to achieve at the mediation.

  • copies (including certified true copies, if required) of documents likely to be relevant to the issues in dispute. Some mediators limit the amount of material that may be brought into a mediation to a single A4 binder folder, to avoid masses of useless information. A good tip is to use post-it notes, tabs or flags to organise your material, so you are not flustered trying to find it during the mediation itself.

  • a consideration of ‘what is the best alternative to mediating today’ against ‘what is the worst alternative to mediating today’. When seeking to resolve your dispute, it is sometimes a good strategy to have a reference document highlighting the pros and cons of not reaching a settlement. You may also wish to consider implications of making (or rejecting) offers to settle, particularly any Calderbank offers. There are also legislative provisions which allows a court to impose cost penalties on parties who reject offers of settlement, if the outcome of the court proceeding is less favourable than the rejected offer, please feel free to speak to one of our mediators about this.

  • if you would like support, consider asking a friend or family member to attend the mediation with you or to be available to talk to you by telephone on the expected day of the mediation; allowing your support person the ability to align their schedule to assist you.