Have you ever wondered how to arrange a mediation? Choosing the right mediator is a key aspect of arranging a mediation.  At Mediatelegal we take care of everything needed to arrange a mediation. This leaves you to make better use of your time rather than spending it on administrative tasks.

Why Should I Mediate?

Litigation is expensive and difficult. Mediation allows parties to limit their risk by sitting down together, with a professional, and exploring what solutions are available. With an 86% national success rate it can have huge benefits for those involved in a dispute.

Also, courts are increasingly punishing parties who unreasonably refuse mediation. Do you want to risk not having your costs paid if you win, or being ordered to pay penalty costs (referred to as indemnity costs) if you lose? Mediation isn’t mandatory in litigation but it takes a brave person to choose to refuse an offer of mediation these days. (We have other blog posts on this subject).

When Should I Mediate?

You can arrange a mediation at any stage in a dispute, right up until the days before trial. Generally speaking, the sooner you mediate a dispute the more you can potentially save on legal costs. Occasionally parties aren’t ready to mediate as they don’t yet have a true understanding of their legal position & they may need to seek legal advice before giving mediation proper consideration.

How Does It Work?

If you or your client is in a dispute and wants to know how to arrange a mediation, make contact with us either via our website, email or by telephone on 0151 363 3972. We won’t just tell you how to arrange a mediation and leave you to it – during our chat we will ask you a number questions, meaning we will have enough information to allow us to contact the other party and begin the process of arranging a date, location, and nominated mediator. So far as you are concerned, it can be arranged and confirmed in just 1 phone call to us – we take care of everything else.

Who To Choose As Mediator?

A question that often is raised when we are asked how to arrange a mediation is ‘how do we agree on a mediator?’. You can select a mediator yourself from our panel of expert mediators, or we will suggest 3 mediators best suited to your dispute. If you agree with our selections, we will send the CV for each proposed mediator to the other party and ask them to select which one they prefer. We will then feed this back to you. A mediator is agreed & selected!

Where To Hold The Mediation?

We have access to preferred rates with several venue providers including Bruntwood and Holiday Inn Express. We can use these preferred partner rates when suggesting neutral venues for the mediation to take place at.

We will approach other venue providers in the area to ensure we get the best possible rate. To save further costs, either party might be able to host the venue at their premises (or their solicitors) but only so long as everybody is comfortable with this.

When To Hold The Mediation?

During our first conversation we will ask you for several suggested dates, and use these as a basis to confirm a date for the mediation with the other party. It is quite rare that all 5 dates are unsuitable for the other party.

We’ve Shown You How To Arrange A Mediation – What Next?

We will contact both parties in advance of the mediation to answer any queries. We arrange for the parties to sign the Mediation Agreement and we request payment of our fee in advance.

We also ask that both parties provide us with any documents they intend to rely on at the mediation at least 7 days beforehand. We do request that they keep these documents as concise as possible.

Then We Mediate!

All parties attend the agreed venue, on the agreed date, and are greeted by the agreed mediator. Usually, several hours later, the dispute will have been resolved.

Any Queries?

We’ve streamlined the process so that you don’t waste your valuable time dealing with the administrative task of arranging the mediation. Once it is confirmed we will send out several documents so that you have enough information to know what to expect. However, if you have any queries at any point you can always contact us – we’ll be happy to discuss the mediation process with you.

Contact Us

Now that we’ve told you how to arrange a mediation, if you need to arrange a mediation give us a call, or use the contact form on this page and we will call you back. If you have a query, send an email to help@mediatelegal.co.uk or reply to this post with a query. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

To view our template mediation agreement, Fees Overview document, or several others, visit our Downloads page.