Mediation Practice Group

At Southern Law, we are passionate about alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and mediation as great options for resolving many workplace and organizational disputes. Mediation is a voluntary, confidential process where the mediator assists the parties to identify issues and solutions, and to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.

Our Mediation Practice Group is composed of skilled lawyer-mediators whose experience, education, and approach can assist your organization in finding solutions and solving problems.

Our clients, including employers and unions, hire us for our:

Vast understanding of the mediation process, our effective skills, and our ability to quickly gain the trust of mediation participants
Ability to mediate a wide variety of matters, from highly fractious and complex disputes involving multiple parties, to matters involving two individuals who have dysfunctional relations that are impacting their lives, their work, and their organization
Knowledge of the public, private, and non-profit sectors; unionized and non-unionized workplaces; and government, politics, and the courts
Experience working with employers representing workforces of all sizes, ranging from those with less than 10 employees to those with more than 1,000 employees

Let us guide your organization through conflict, build capacity, and improve culture through accountability, fairness, and respect.

How Can We Help?

Our Approach

Our mediators follow a set of best practice principles.

We conduct each mediation as an impartial and neutral third-party mediator. We do not take sides and we treat each participant equally.
We fully inform participants and champions of mediations about the process of mediation and the possible outcomes, and obtain their consent to enter into mediation.
We are in charge of the process and build consensus between the participants, but ultimately it is up to the participants to decide how to resolve their dispute.
We ensure that the participants fully understand the confidential and without-prejudice nature of mediation.
We ensure that participants have the opportunity to seek advice from a lawyer or a representative before signing an agreement arising out of mediation.
We tailor each mediation process to the dispute and to the needs of the parties (for instance, in some cases, a more interest-based approach may be warranted, while in others, an evaluative approach may be needed. Shuttle mediation or joint mediation sessions may be suitable depending on participants’ sense of safety and comfort).
In many cases, it is appropriate to have one-on-one pre-mediation meetings with each participant before the mediation session, while in other cases, such as mediations of grievances, the participants are well versed in the process and pre-mediations are not necessary.
We respect each participant’s right to make their own decisions, and we ensure that each participant is accountable for the commitments that they make as a result of mediation, usually by way of a documented mediation agreement.