Watch Adishian Law Group, P.C. founder and California Attorney Chris Adishian provide an answer to the question: “What is mediation?”
Transcript
Mediation is a form of dispute resolution, it’s often confused with arbitration. They have a certain similarity in that it is in a form of alternative dispute resolution. And also, many of the same firms and practitioners who offer arbitration services, also offer mediation services. But in practice they’re very different. Unlike arbitration, mediation is voluntary. The parties elect to go to mediation to work with a third party mediator to try to resolve their disputes. And unlike an arbitrator, a mediator cannot impose a decision on the parties. So, if the parties don’t want to settle, they don’t have to settle, and if they don’t settle at mediation, then they just continue on the path to litigation. Now, in practice, many employment matters settle at mediation, usually after a fair amount of litigation, but not all of them.