Mediating Off the Grid - Chapter 24 - AAA Handbook on Mediation - 2nd Edition
Author(s):
Cris M. Currie
Page Count:
12 pages
Media Description:
PDF from "AAA Handbook on Mediation - 2nd Edition"
Published:
September, 2010
Jurisdictions:
Practice Areas:
Author Detail:
Cris M. Currie holds a Master of Arts degree in conflict resolution from Antioch University and is a registered nurse. He is a retired mediator and conflict management instructor and was founder and former co-director of the Dispute Resolution Center of Spokane County, Washington.
Description:
Originally from: AAA Handbook on Mediation - 2nd Edition
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MEDIATING OFF THE GRID
I. Introduction
I. Introduction
The debate over “evaluative” versus “facilitative” mediation is now largely between attorney-mediators and mediators who are not attorneys. Those on both sides of this divide are becoming ever more frustrated with the divisive labeling.1 Leonard Riskin tried to help resolve the issue with his well-known “grid for the perplexed.” The grid describes four general ways that mediation is being done. Riskin’s intention was to “communicate with some clarity about what can, does, and should happen in a mediation,” and enhance decision-making about the selection of mediators.2 But instead of creating clarity, the grid, in my view, has led to even greater confusion. The problem is that it provides no guidance as to how mediation could or should be done, or how it would be done by any particular mediator. Therefore, it provides little help with decision making about the selection of a mediator. Nevertheless, and this is most troubling, the grid has been widely used to support and legitimize several questionable forms of mediation practice.3
Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
II. The Grid Unplugged
III. An Alternative Approach
A. Relationship Bias
B. Content Bias
C. Authority Bias
IV. Traditionalists and Professionals
V. Conclusion