What role do lawyers play in the mediation process?
In most cases, lawyers do not attend mediation sessions with their clients. Instead, they may provide legal advice to clients before the mediation process begins, during the mediation process itself or after the parties have negotiated a tentative agreement. This is a matter of personal preference for both clients and lawyers. The vast majority of clients are perfectly capable and comfortable attending mediation on their own. In some cases, however, both lawyers and clients attend the mediation sessions together. The presence of lawyers at the mediation itself allows clients to discuss more complex legal issues about which each client may have received a very different legal opinion. Clients may receive legal advice during the mediation and reach a final settlement at the session. Lawyers may also attend mediation sessions in situations where the conflict between clients is particularly high or in situations where one or both clients feel vulnerable negotiating on their own. When a cou
