If the point of mediation is to get parties together to discuss and thereby resolve their problems, why is the distinct trend to keep the parties apart?

The cover story in the new June issue of Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation presents a survey that shows how caucuses predominate and joint sessions are declining in mediation practice. 

The authors–veteran leaders in the profession—are Eric Galton of Lakeside Mediation Center in Austin, Texas; Lela P. Love, a law professor and director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at New York’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and Jerry Weiss, founder of MediationInc, based in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

The authors join us in the YouTube video above to discuss their research.  Please like and share it at the YouTube link or below on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

In their Alternatives article, “The Decline of Dialogue: The Rise of Caucus-Only Mediation And the Disappearance of the Joint Session,” 39 Alternatives 89 (June 2021), the authors chart the regional differences in the use of joint sessions and so-called phenomenon of “mediation without dialogue,” and use an example of how joint sessions can be deployed to reduce the conflict that caused the dispute.

Alternatives is available here to CPR members who are logged into the CPR website.  Subscription information is available at altnewsletter.com.

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