Page 8 - Alternative Dispute Resolution

S8 | MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016 | Alternative Dispute Resolution
| NYLJ.COM

Travel the Road

To a Successful Mediation

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well be the opening lines to a poem entitled only one path will ultimately lead to certain Preparation by the parties is probably
BY SUSAN HERNANDEZ
The Road to Mediation.
success. There can only be “one road that’s the most important part of the mediation
Having been the Chief Court Mediator in traveled.” So what is that path?
process. Often times, the mediator is sent
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - Bronx Supreme Court, and now, after par- vast amounts of documents before the media-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
ticipating in hundreds of mediations at NAM Cooperation, Preparation, Communication
tion and yet the parties come to the table
(National Arbitration and Mediation), expe- poorly prepared, not really aware of the good
- Robert Frost
rience has taught that Alternative Dispute In a word, it is the path of cooperation. and bad parts of their case, with little to no
W Resolution is probably the best and most A successful mediator sees dozens of cases forethought given to the positions of their
ith apologies for borrowing the closing cost-effective way to resolve a case. Yet, weekly and hundreds of cases annually. adversaries. Additionally, the clients have not
verse to Robert Frost’s The Road Not experience has also taught that “travelers” The mediator gets a clear sense of when a been properly prepared by counsel, and rely
Taken (often mistakenly called The
seeking a resolution can choose only one of mediation has a good chance of success and on the mediator to “convince the other side”
Road Less Traveled), these words could very
two divergent paths—the adversarial and also when the mediation is doomed to fail— of the strength of their case. Of course, this is

costly, uphill climb that ultimately leads to despite the best intentions of both parties— not the job of the mediator, which only makes
a courtroom battle or the smoother, paved, due to mistakes made prior to and during a the process more frustrating and dificult.
SUSAN HERNANDEZ is a member of NAM’s (National cooperative road that ends in a successful mediation. It is not the mediator alone that Instead of voluminous submissions in hopes
Arbitration and Mediation) Hearing Oicer Panel, and and fruitful resolutions through mediation. can make the process a success. It requires of convincing the mediator of the merits of
is available throughout the New York Metro area for This article is written in the hope that those the good intentions, cooperation and prepara- the case, the parties should position their
arbitrations and mediations.
seeking the Mediation Road will recognize that
tion by both the plaintiff and defense.
cases for a settlement and not » Page S15