Andrew Bartlett
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Mill Valley, CA
Licensed to Practice Law
in the State of California

Contact me via LAW191

If you need legal assistance but cannot afford it, there may be creative ways for me to help you.

Law and Software

Mediation Advocacy

Lawsuits are about winners and losers. Before a lawsuit you have lost something, or need to protect it, and you need some remedy. Before the lawsuit you had a problem. You had an issue that needed resolving. Once you take the legal route, you have a case.

Its easy to think of mediation as something the courts insist on before allowing your case to go forward. Before you can win (or lose). Really its the last chance saloon. It's the final exit before the freeway. Its an opportunity to solve the problem, resolve the issue, find a way to work with the other side. If the issue matters, then mediation matters.

You need representation in a mediation. That's what a Mediation Advocate is. An attorney who will be at your side. You may want to use the attorney who is planning to take your case to court. Or you (and that attorney) may feel there is a conflict of interest, for someone who can best serve you in court and who you engage with a view to winning your case, to "resolve the issue' in a mediation. And you both may prefer non-adversarial representation for the mediation.

Mediation Advocacy can go beyond mediations. That may sound strange. But some conflicts are one-sided and you know that if it comes to court, you will lose. You can only win by being on the same page as the other side, and finding a way to work with them rather than fight them. Parole hearings, and some other administrative hearings are like that. Other conflicts are lose-lose. No-one wins if it goes to court. Some divorces are like that.

Sometimes you need an advocate whose focus is understanding the issues that both sides face and wants to help you resolve those issues. A mediator will do that as a "neutral third party" but is neutral, and isn't concerned about whether the solution works for you. A Mediation Advocate will help you resolve the issue as your representative. Your interests are key. But your interests are not set in stone, and your advocate should help you see the big picture in order to find a solution that works for you but also works for the other side.