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Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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I’ll begin with a disclaimer: My views are formed, and primarily applicable to commercial, tort and other civil litigation where all parties are represented by counsel.

So: Around 2007, the International Academy of Mediators (at https://iamed.org) recruited experienced mediators to form a professional community focused on enhancing mediation theory and skills.

In a presentation on the topic of mediator impartiality, I commented that from the moment of first contact with any participant, the mediator is continually assessing, evaluating, and forming theories, opinions, and strategies to implement action to resolve the conflict.

John Leo Wagner, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif., mediator attending his first IAM meeting, said afterwards that he was pleased to hear that perspective rather than platitudes about neutrality and impartiality. He said he believed the profession’s dirty little secret was the myth that impartiality and neutrality dictated never formulating an opinion or acting based upon your own evaluation of the facts, law, personalities and other dynamics.