Here’s an issue that can keep mediators talking into the wee hours: when to use joint meetings, and when to use private meetings?

Some people hold the preconceived notion that their approach – private or joint – is always better, all the time, for all people and in all cases.

These preconceived notions come from the real experience mediators and attorneys have had. Litigators and litigation-context mediators know that there are things that they can do in private meetings that they can’t do in joint meetings. Other mediators know that there are things that they can do in joint meetings that they can’t do in private meetings.

Some have had bad experiences with joint sessions. Some have had bad experiences with private sessions.

Why is that?

These different approaches have been used in two separate contexts, of course. Private meetings tend to be used more in litigation-context mediations. Joint meetings tend to be used more in mediations outside litigation. In each context, the professionals have been better skilled at the approach they use more, and it proves more helpful. And in each context, the other approach has not been used as often, the professionals aren’t very good at it, and the few times they try it, things don’t go so well.

Not all mediators and lawyers have the skill-set to work effectively in private meetings.  And not all mediators and lawyers have the skill-set to work effectively in joint meetings.

So it’s no wonder some are better with one approach more than the other, they get better results with it, they have their preferences for it over the other. It’s not surprising that these preferences turn into pre-conceived notions about what’s best, or even into beliefs about what is right and what is wrong.

I encourage mediators and lawyers to reflect on their experiences with joint/private meetings and what pre-conceived notions they have formed about them. And to learn more about and gain some skill in using the approach they’re less familiar with. Then they’ll be in a better position to say – in each particular situation, with that particular mix of people and the professionals’ skill-sets – which approach might be the one to use.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under ADR, Mediation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.