Mediation -- A Lawyer’s Guide

Lawyers, regardless of the areas of law that they practise in, are generally familiar with the advantages that mediation offers as a process for dispute resolution. There is also broad federal and provincial legislative endorsement of mediation as an alternative to litigation and traditional adversarial legal processes. ?Indeed, an increasing number of lawyers attend programs that will qualify them to act as accredited mediators. But there has been a lack of readily available information relating to the role of the lawyer in preparing themselves and their clients for the mediation of an outstanding dispute by a third party neutral. That gap has now been filled by Suzanne Handman’s book entitled Mediation for Lawyers: A Practical Guide For Effective Representation of Your Clients, which was recently published by Irwin Law. For lawyers out there who assert that they have no time to read books, the author provides a 14-page Summary and Checklist of the steps that should be taken when lawyers engage in preparing themselves and their clients for the mediation process from the beginning to the end. ?That alone is well worth the cost of the entire 250-page book. So now, there is no excuse for continued ignorance or for “winging it” as a mediation proceeds.