Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Are most disputes in mediation just about money? That’s an old and familiar question that many lawyers still seem to reply to with an emphatic “yes.” Mediated cases are frequently viewed as a clash of binary claims, subject only to a sorting out of financial winners and losers.

This popular vision was challenged by an American Bar Association panel of experienced commercial mediators. They explored the opportunities that they have seen for breaking out of this confining legal mold. Their years of practice have taught them that many disputes are not just about money even when money is the presenting issue.

When preparing the first edition in 2004 of my book, Mediation Representation, I gave attention to this persistent question when I framed a key theme as: “You have little chance of discovering whether a dispute is only about money if you approach the dispute as if it is only about money.” Harold Abramson, Mediation Representation—Advocating as a Problem-Solver, 7 (Aspen, 3d edition, 2013).