Mediation

Mediation For Florida is Prepared to Resolve Your Dispute

Decades of active legal practice brings both an appreciation for the nuances of the law and an insight into the art of dispute resolution.  It is with this experience and passion that attorney Clark Jordan-Holmes has established Mediation For Florida, LLC.

Our organization logo features an African symbol for “cooperation.”

While our mediation skills translate to all areas of the law, Mediation For Florida has a specific focus and experience in the following areas:

• Pre-suit Mediation
• All Litigation including:
  • Contract Disputes
  • Debt/Foreclosure
  • Family Law
  • Construction Litigation
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Local Government Issues
  • Personal Injury & Insurance
  • Product Liability
  • Real Estate
  • Transit & Transportation

The Value of the Mediation Process

Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)*, a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete and immediate effects.  Typically, a third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate a settlement by facilitating better communication and the exploration of all costs and benefits.  Disputants may mediate disputes in a variety of domains, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and family matters.  The mediation conference orchestrates and focuses the settlement talk to help the parties achieve an agreement.

This makes mediation one of the key alternative dispute resolution tools a successful mediator uses to resolve disputes between two or more parties.  We believe that every lawsuit and every controversy has the potential to reach a successful conclusion through mediation when properly applied.

Every lawsuit can also be brought to a more cost-effective conclusion if mediation is successful.  It is a key reason this process is made available by the courts and extremely important to all parties.

Rule 10.210 defines mediation as:  “a process whereby a neutral and impartial third person acts to encourage and facilitate the resolution of a dispute without prescribing what it should be.  It is an informal and non-adversarial process intended to help disputing parties reach a mutually acceptable agreement.”

With the goal of reaching a mutually acceptable agreement, the mediator guides the parties toward that goal.  A good mediator must be neutral, impartial and objective.  Mediation is a unique part of litigation because the mediation process puts the party more clearly in charge than in other phases of what can otherwise be an adversarial process.

Florida Statutes §44.1011(2) states that:  “In mediation, decision making authority rests with the parties.  The role of the Mediator includes, but is not limited to, assisting the parties in identifying issues, fostering joint problem-solving and exploring settlement alternatives.”

* Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) includes all methods other than traditional lawsuits. These would include Mediation, as a well as Arbitration. Arbitration can only be used when the parties agree by contract to use arbitration and allow the Arbitrator to make decisions based upon the facts and evidence produced.

Mediation Benefits

Regardless of the hard feeling that may have developed and which side opposing parties are on, the benefits of mediation are always available:

• Saves Money— A case in the hands of a lawyer or a court may take months or years to resolve, mediation usually achieves a resolution in a matter of hours.  Taking less time means spending less money on hourly fees and costs.
• Confidential and Private—Court hearings are public, mediation remains, with few exceptions, strictly confidential.  No one but the parties to the dispute and the mediator(s) know what happened.  Confidentiality in mediation has such importance that in most cases the legal system cannot force a mediator to testify in court as to the content or progress of mediation.  Many mediators destroy their notes taken during a mediation once that mediation has finished.
• Control & Flexibility—Mediation increases the control the parties have over the resolution and the flexibility in creating a successful resolution.  In a court case, the parties obtain a resolution, but control resides with the judge or jury.  Often, a judge or jury cannot legally provide solutions that emerge in mediation.  Thus, mediation is more likely to produce a result that is more mutually agreeable for each party.
• Compliance—Since the result is accepted by the parties after working together and is mutually agreeable, compliance with the mediated agreement is usually high.  This further reduces costs, because the parties do not have to employ an attorney to force compliance with the agreement.  The mediated agreement is, however, fully enforceable in a court of law.
• Support—Mediators are trained in working with difficult situations.  The mediator acts as neutral arbiter and guides the parties through the process.  The mediator helps the parties think “outside of the box” for possible solutions to the dispute, broadening the range of possible solutions.
• A Speedier End to the Litigation—Allows the parties to move on more quickly and focus their time, energy and resources on other aspects of their lives and businesses.
• Preserves Dignity and the Relationship(s).
• Encourages Creative Options and solution development.
• Eliminates the Unlimited Exposure and Uncertainty of Trial.
• Can address Interests and Concerns not directly in the litigation.