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Mediation here to stay: Process helps reduce pressure on court system

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 23, 2009

BY JAMES MATHIEU

Dialogues on mediation usually involve a multitude of "touchy-feely" words and phrases, such as self-empowerment, empathy, intervention, relationships and many others. It is, however, also a business, career and now a discipline with degrees at universities and colleges.

The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies has published many studies on the breadth, results, costs and future of mediation. The empirical statistics are mounting. U.S News and World Report, in December, reported that mediation is identified as one of the best careers for the coming year. There is no question that mediation is the wave of the future.

Florida has the nation's most extensive court mediation and alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, system. It began with the establishment of one the first citizen dispute settlement centers, in Dade County in 1975. The state of Florida is a leader, mostly through its mandated "mediation before trial" rules.

In 2007, the request for certification by the Florida Supreme Court rules for a mediator were amended to reverse the prerequisite that the applicant be an attorney and had to have practiced for at least five years. Laymen can now be licensed to mediate court-ordered disputes.

However, no fear here by attorneys that they may end up with a nonlawyer mediator. As the director of the Florida Circuit Court Civil Mediation Program reports, "In over 90 percent of cases, parties are selecting their own mediator," rather than waiting for the court to appoint one as reported by the aforesaid Journal in 2004.

Having participated for more than 20 years as an arbitrator in the Philadelphia Arbitration Program, I can say that mediation - as distinguished from arbitration, in which a decision is rendered - is still being discussed as the next move forward. The Philadelphia Arbitration Program is one of the most successful programs in the country and still mediation alternatives are being planned.

Both lawsuits and matters not in suit, such as employment disputes, union issues, governmental land use, domestic matters, hurricane losses and a host of other adversarial scenarios are being directed, both voluntarily and mandated, to mediation forums. Both voluntary nonpaid mediators and paid professionals are utilized.

Because of the multitude of varying scenarios, issues and court programs, one size of mediator or mediation process will not fit all. From voluntary mediators to paid professionals; from lawyer mediators to layman mediators, the mediation need will dictate the process and forum; from those with university degrees to lawyers, to layman mediators, to training certificates, to mediator businesses, the rapidly changing field will continue to grow.

With statistics showing reduced caseloads in our courts, reduced expenses of litigation and most importantly a sense of self-empowerment in our ever expanding "touchy feely" world, mediation is here to say.

How, where, what, who and how are still being determined but outcomes reached by mediation, rather than litigation, is society's preferred remedy.

James Mathieu, Esq., is a certified circuit court Mediator and owner of Mathieu Mediations, 7710 Grand Blvd., Port Richey, FL 34668. 727-844-5000.

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