While gaining experience in practical legal tasks was beneficial, my success was a product of considering key hallmarks to the process of mediation – voluntariness, empowerment and neutrality – when conducting this assessable role-play. Due to the fact that these hallmarks acted as reoccurring themes throughout the entirety of this assessment, I am convinced that my experience of a mediation role-play is consistent with mediation literature.
It was unquestionably clear that the element of voluntariness guided much of my group’s mediation role-play success. As I adopted the role of Sam in the scenario, it was obvious that his willingness to participate in the mediation was voluntary. While facilitative mediation adheres to a ‘traditional approach’ …show more content…
Empowerment allows parties to, in simple terms, ‘control the process and the outcome’. Mediators are bound by certain standards which dictates self-determination to be a requisite of the facilitative mediation model. As such, in order not to ‘violate’ these standards, parties are empowered to the extent where they can determine most variables of a mediation process; including the acceptance of a mediator and the conditions of agreement. This was evident throughout my group’s role-play, where Jake and James initially asked both Lauren and I if we were content with our current mediators, and whether we were happy with the terms to agree upon. In our group’s role-play, it was evident that mediation ‘maximised’ the potential for the parties to express their interests, as self-determination was encouraged; the environment was private, and the mediators did not show prejudice or disapproval. I did not feel uncomfortable at any point in time during the role-play. This re-emphasised the notion of owning the process. In every step of mediation, it was clear that the decisions were driven primarily by the parties control to agree or disagree. The mediator should actively aim to provide a basis for this empowerment to be present: they should ensure that parties feel comfortable, and ‘value’ the facilitative mediation process. It is
It was unquestionably clear that the element of voluntariness guided much of my group’s mediation role-play success. As I adopted the role of Sam in the scenario, it was obvious that his willingness to participate in the mediation was voluntary. While facilitative mediation adheres to a ‘traditional approach’ …show more content…
Empowerment allows parties to, in simple terms, ‘control the process and the outcome’. Mediators are bound by certain standards which dictates self-determination to be a requisite of the facilitative mediation model. As such, in order not to ‘violate’ these standards, parties are empowered to the extent where they can determine most variables of a mediation process; including the acceptance of a mediator and the conditions of agreement. This was evident throughout my group’s role-play, where Jake and James initially asked both Lauren and I if we were content with our current mediators, and whether we were happy with the terms to agree upon. In our group’s role-play, it was evident that mediation ‘maximised’ the potential for the parties to express their interests, as self-determination was encouraged; the environment was private, and the mediators did not show prejudice or disapproval. I did not feel uncomfortable at any point in time during the role-play. This re-emphasised the notion of owning the process. In every step of mediation, it was clear that the decisions were driven primarily by the parties control to agree or disagree. The mediator should actively aim to provide a basis for this empowerment to be present: they should ensure that parties feel comfortable, and ‘value’ the facilitative mediation process. It is