Page 13 - FDCC_InsightsSpecialIssue23

H. Mills Gallivan
“Your future is behind you and your past is catching up”
The James Hunter Six, The Gypsy
By H. Mills Gallivan
2022 was to be the year COVID-19 ended and life returned to normal; well so much for predictions...
The conventional wisdom pre-pandemic was that remote/virtual mediation would never work and was a futuristic fantasy. We quickly learned that the future of mediation was behind us, and that we had some catching up to join the brave new virtual mediation world. Before 2019 only the most tech savvy lawyers had heard of Zoom and now it is so commonplace that every lawyer has some basic Zoom skills. The closure of the courts for trials resulted in litigators turning more quickly to online mediation as a means for closing cases.
Takeaways from the new world of virtual mediations:
1. Planning – Mediation is no longer treated as a mere steppingstone to the courthouse. The parties are much more engaged in negotiations regarding the timing, location, and pre-mediation discussions with the mediator. The parties are coming to mediations better prepared, and with more intentional and definitive strategies to achieve a favorable resolution.
4
FDCC ANNUAL FIVES 2023
Alternative Dispute Resolution