Throughout my career, I have mediated over 450 matters in areas of family law, personal injury, and estate matters including complicated multi-party disputes. Through my mediation experience, I understand the fears litigants express related to our legal system and the strong desire of most people to find reasonable and affordable solutions. As a mediator, my objective is to bring a potentially fractious dispute to a fair and reasonable solution.
As a Dispute Resolution Professional, I am constantly assessing what I can do to make the process even better in order to improve client satisfaction. By including appropriate tools and strategies for addressing clients’ physical, psychological, and social needs, a well-designed mediation process enhances the parties’ opportunity to address serious conflict that may be unresponsive to, or worse yet heightened through litigation. One such tool that has proven particularly valuable for my clients is web-based teleconferencing.
Online mediation offers an effective, and innovative alternative to conventional in-person mediation. The appropriate use of web-based teleconferencing is an efficient and worthwhile addition to the mediation process that enhances, facilitates, and supports traditional mediation strategies. The many benefits to online mediation include the following:
Online mediation makes active participation in a mediation possible regardless of where the mediator, lawyers, or the parties are located. With online mediation, your legal matter can still be satisfactorily resolved without leaving your home.
Modern teleconferencing technology closely emulates face to face mediations including inclusive joint sessions, private conversations between the lawyer their clients, private communications with the mediator, use of presentation technologies, and document sharing.
Online mediation is efficient and can lower the cost of mediation in matters where travel and related expenses would otherwise be necessary. There are little to no facility or travel costs. The negotiators do not have to travel, no one needs to find a facility.
The online platform provides a more focused environment for getting results by establishing tighter deadlines for settlement.
Online mediation encourages parties to be more candid with their settlement offers. Online mediation does not have the same reputation for posturing. Depending on the format, parties do not have time to sit around and offer unrealistic numbers. Online mediation is designed to be efficient, so there is much more of a push for parties to reveal the best settlement number and to actually reach an agreement. By encouraging parties to be honest and not waste their time posturing, online mediation gets results.
Online mediation is voluntary and risk free. If a party is dissatisfied with the process he or she can opt out at any time.
Online mediation is especially helpful during this critical time. With the COVID-19 Pandemic, social behaviors have adjusted drastically. There has been less physical contact among social groups and a spike in digital communication. While it’s not business as usual, online mediation provides an effective alternative to people who are eager to resolve disputes. If you’re unable to travel or want to simply limit your exposure and there are legal timelines and court orders you must adhere to, on-line mediation may be your best solution.
Paul & Company is ready to offer you access to its professionals in videoconference. We have reliable and secure technology to deal with your legal needs in a safe, secure and prompt fashion. Our secure videoconferencing services meet all applicable government and Law Society standards. Our intervention protocols and tools give you great support over any distance.
To get more information on how on-line mediation can work for you, contact Paul & Company and request an on-line consultation at 250-828-9998.