Mediation has the advantage of being a confidential process and also a speedy and informal one. A mediation is very different than a trial, because there are no legal proceedings and no rules of evidence. Compared with the costs associated with a trial, mediation is also very inexpensive.

Perhaps most important is that issues, when resolved in mediation, are decided by the involved parties – not by courts and juries. The role of mediator James E. Morris is to draw upon his extensive skills and legal experience to facilitate discussion. He does not make the decisions for the parties, but keeps them talking so they can resolve their issues and put their dispute behind them.

In the more than 3,650 cases Morris has mediated, nearly 80 percent have been settled during the mediation sessions or soon after through follow-up discussions he facilitated. Only a handful of cases have gone to trial and virtually all were settled during jury selection or in the first few days of trial. For these most difficult cases, the seeds for settlement were planted during mediation

For more on the value of mediation, see Mediation Offers Advantages Over a Court Decision.