Co-mediation involves two mediators working together as a team to assist a couple in reaching agreement. Co-mediation is used in a broad variety of mediation cases, but is particularly well-suited for divorce mediation.
Some of the benefits of using co-mediation include:
- Gender Balance – a male/female mediation team offers clients the opportunity to have their needs, concerns and interests heard, understood and appreciated by someone of their own gender as well as someone of the other gender. This breadth of perspectives and interpretations is often helpful in assisting the spouses in their understanding of each other.
- Complementary Skills Sets - Pairing an attorney with family law experience with a mediator familiar with the psychological and financial aspects of divorce provides a very solid foundation for the divorcing couple to work through the legal, emotional and financial aspects of divorce.
- Two Heads are Better than One – Having two mediators allows each to focus on different aspects of the mediation and often move the process along more efficiently while also avoiding potential pitfalls. While one mediator is actively leading the discussions the other can step back from the situation in order to ‘see the big picture’ and help keep things on track. For example, while one mediator is helping the couple work through a specific question or issue, the other mediator can mentally review what has been discussed and what the next steps might be.
- Two Perspectives are Better than One – Because they have two life histories and therefore two sets of experiences, perspectives and educations, co-mediators can often bring increased insight into a mediation and offer greater flexibility in responding to the complex issues involved in a divorce.
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Overall, having both male and female mediators, as well as mediators with complementary skill sets, can help make the parties feel more comfortable and create a sense of confidence and balance that facilitates settlement.
Barry has an ongoing co-mediation relationship with attorney-mediator Karen Stigler. Barry and Karen have worked together on a variety of projects and have a solid understanding of each other’s strengths and how to best complement the other.
When Karen and Barry co-mediate they both lower their individual fees so that they can offer co-mediation for only $ 300/hour (which means that you are paying only $ 100/hour for the second mediator). When you factor in that co-mediation often means less time spent in mediation, we believe that you will find this approach to mediation not only helpful, but very cost-effective as well.
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