Ace Young Mediation Services

What is Mediation?

Mediation is a process in which a neutral third-party assists in resolving a dispute between two or more other parties. It is a non-adversarial approach to conflict resolution. The role of the mediator is to facilitate communication between the parties, assist them in focusing on the real issues of the dispute, and generate options that meet the interests or needs of all relevant parties in an effort to resolve the conflict.

Why Consider Mediation?

Compared to a lawsuit, mediation is swift, confidential, fair, and low cost. Here's a full explanation of its advantages. If you've given up on negotiating a settlement of your dispute directly with the other party, mediation may be the most painless and efficient way to solve it. Mediation is quick, private, fair, and inexpensive compared to a lawsuit. Mediation sessions are usually scheduled within a few weeks or, at most, a couple of months from the time of a request -- and most sessions last only a few hours or a day, depending on the type of case. In contrast, lawsuits often take many months, or even years, to resolve.

Mediation is particularly valuable when your dispute involves another person with whom -- either by choice or circumstance -- you need to remain on good terms. This may include family members, co-workers, business partners, your landlord, neighbors, or others with whom you have a continuing personal or business relationship. Lawsuits polarize and ultimately ruin relationships, so a huge advantage of mediation is its ability to get a dispute resolved without destroying a relationship.

Another advantage of mediation is confidentiality. With very few exceptions (for example, where a criminal act or child abuse is involved), what you say during mediation cannot legally be revealed outside the mediation proceedings or used later in a court of law. By contrast, one of the drawbacks of going to court is that, by and large, everything said or submitted in connection with a lawsuit becomes available to the public. Only by a special order of a judge can information be "sealed" from public exposure. So whether your desire is to protect your trade secrets or just to avoid airing your dirty laundry in public, your privacy will be substantially greater with mediation than with litigation.

Our Philosophy:

At Ace Young Mediation Services we believe in the power of mediation and the satisfaction which results from allowing people to participate in developing the solution to their problems. When combining the assistance of a skilled neutral who is trained in problem-solving techniques with a positive approach to the mediation process, most negotiations can be satisfactorily concluded. Ace Young Mediation Services prides itself on engaging in active listening, infusing real life perspectives and developing creative options to remedy disputes.

How Mediation Works:

Although a mediator cannot force an outcome, the process is very often effective. The key is the ability of the mediator to create a more productive discussion than the parties could have had by themselves. To do this, mediators help the parties determine facts; they show empathy and impartiality with the parties; and they help the parties generate new ideas. Mediators also exercise political skill and use persuasion to get people to soften hardline positions. Often, though not always, they have a lot of background knowledge of the issues and type of dispute. Though many mediators are highly trained and experienced, not all are professionals, and they come from many different walks of life.

Lawyers often believe that the purpose of mediation is rapid and efficient settlement of a particular case. But others disagree. Sometimes the purpose of a mediation is more to improve relationships among parties who will have to deal with each other again, or even to help them learn how best to handle conflict with other parties in the future. Often, a mediator has to learn which of these purposes is most important to the parties in a particular case, and tailor the service to match, but different mediators tend to specialize in one variety of mediation or another. (Mediation that focuses on settlement is sometimes termed problem-solving mediation; mediation that focuses more on relationships is called transformative mediation.)

While many mediators pride themselves on their neutrality, some observers believe that it is impossible for any human being to be truly neutral.

Preparing for Mediation:

Preparation is one of the keys to a successful mediation. It is not only important for the parties to be substantively prepared but also mentally prepared for the process of negotiation.

If a fact or figure is in dispute, a more efficient resolution will be facilitated if all documentation which supports the claimed fact or figure is presented and available during the mediation session. Even if the information is not known to be in dispute, any written material to verify the accuracy of a party’s claim is helpful, in case an issue should arise at mediation. Being able to answer questions immediately with objective supportive documentation can allow the mediation to progress without the need to continue the session or place contingencies on any resolution that may be reached.

Lawyers or unrepresented parties may provide the mediator with a Summary of their case prior to the mediation session. This is helpful for the mediator to prepare for the issues that might arise and become familiar with who is involved in the dispute. Premediation summaries are optional and can be mailed or faxed to the office at least 48 hours before the scheduled session.

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