Successful Mediation Settles Disputes and Satisfies Clients

The Mediation Process

You and your fellow disputant are having trouble reaching a solution. You need a process to help you reach an agreement that satisfies both sets of interests. You need a neutral place to meet the other party on equal footing. You need an objective person to help you communicate and set a productive tone. You need mediation—successful mediation.

I am an expert in the process; I provide the place; I am passionate about fairness; and I will work tirelessly to facilitate and protect a constructive communication process that results in a mutually satisfactory, lasting agreement.

Successful Mediation

What I bring to the table

• Respect and Trust: Good rapport with the mediator is essential to successful mediation. I do everything in my power to ensure that both parties trust my neutrality and respect the process.
• Active Listening: You have to be heard to be understood. I bring empathy and curiosity to the mediator's chair because conflict involves stories, and stories tell you where people have been, where they are now, and where they want to go.
• Creative Thinking: Courts restrict parties and decision-makers to legal thinking. Mediation takes legal thinking and expands it with insight, connection, and creative solutions. Law is only one possible frame; we can re-frame the problem in whatever way will most likely solve it.
• Common Ground: You have come to mediation because you think finding common ground will be faster and less traumatic than winning or losing in litigation. My job is to hear your stories, seek connections, and help you find enough common ground to go away with an enduring resolution.
• My Credentials: I have a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School (Cum Laude, 2001). I completed mediation training through the Northern California Mediation Center and the Community Boards of San Francisco. I have been an educator for 16 years and a facilitator of family communications for 9 years. I have worked with people of all ages, from youngsters (as a teacher and mentor) to elders (as a life story documentarian). I am an active member of the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California, and am involved in ongoing mediation practice and education.

What you bring to the table

• Voluntary commitment: Mediation is your choice. By seeking a mediated solution, you are taking control of the next stage of your problem—and your life.
• Openness to collaboration: As a mediator, my job is to see both parties go away satisfied. That can only happen if collaboration is an option. You are in mediation to settle things together.
• Willingness to talk and listen: You will tell your story, you'll listen to the other party's story, I will listen and ask questions, and we'll all offer ideas that lead us to a solution that works for both of you.

Our Goal

The goal is simple: a clearly expressed set of terms that satisfies both parties' interests and becomes binding when you each sign it. You will leave satisfied, with your dispute settled.