Tips from four mediation veterans 
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Published: October 28, 2010
Tags: ADR, Practice Tips
HOT SPRINGS—Mediation sessions are sometimes like a “middle-school dance,” said mediator John B. McCammon. The process advances with the movement and tentativeness of kids making their way from the corners of the gym to the edge of the dance floor to a meeting in the middle of floor.
The parties know they’ll get there, but “incremental bargaining” ...
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The most important point of this article is in the last sentence: “A lawyer should have a contract or agreement template in his… laptop computer and bring it to the session…” Mediators are generally not lawyers and should not be in the business of drafting the agreements. Also, having a form to hand makes it easier to reduce the agreement to writing and getting signatures before leaving the session.