Mediation | Page 2 of 3

The Mediation Option – by Theresa Lorella

By Theresa Lorella Attorney at Seattle Divorce Services In the previous posts in this series, we have explored methods to move a litigation case into a more cooperative setting or to begin a litigation filing with the express intent of remaining cooperative. For those who are firmly committed to a...

A Different Kind of Family Law Firm

Yesterday I had another unsolicited resume sent in by an attorney who was interested in Seattle Divorce Services specifically because he really liked the way we resolve family law issues. In fact, several of our recent hires have been attorneys who wanted to leave their firms and join us primarily...

Collaboration – A Decision Making Model

A good friend recently pointed out to me that Collaboration may best be described as a Decision-Making Model. A divorcing couple has many decisions to make. These include decisions about property division, support, and if there are children, how to parent in separate households. In our state, how...

What is Early Mediation?

Early Mediation is typically an intervention early in the case to try and keep from going into litigation. In other words, it is an attempt to see if the parties can work cooperatively to resolve the case before heading down the adversarial path. At this stage in the case, the parties are wanting...

Mediation Skills for Litigators

At Seattle Divorce Services, we believe in having all of our attorneys go through mediation training, even if they don't plan on being mediators. I really think mediation training helps any attorney be a better negotiator. We are hosting a mediation training at our office this weekend and next that...

Do You Want Your Divorce to Stay Out of Court?

Many people heading into divorce dread the prospect of ending up in a court battle. They don't want the acrimony or the finger-pointing, they don't want the long drawn-out process, and they don't want to make an enemy of their spouse, even if they aren't close anymore. There are actually a number...

Can My Spouse and I Use the Same Lawyer in a Divorce?

We frequently hear from people who are working out their own divorce settlements amicably, and they want to hire a single lawyer to assist them in completing the divorce. They even are considering the same lawyer to advise them as to what their final settlement should look like....

Post-Divorce Parenting Mediation

A friend of ours recently pointed out an interesting article by Silvana D. Raso titled Using Mediation to Keep Your Cool During Divorce and Beyond. In the article, Ms. Raso makes the very good point that post-divorce parenting is often prone to disputes after their divorce is over, and that working...

Differing Definitions of Mediation

Mark Baer wrote recently in a Huffington Post article "What Does Mediation Really Mean?" about how the definitions of Mediation mean different things to different people, and how the vagueness that creates can be confusing to the client. He refers to three different forms of mediation that all get l...

Can We Hire Mediators Instead of Lawyers?

Since we do both mediation and representation, we are often contacted by people who want to hire one of our lawyers as their mediator so they can get everything done by one person. However, the functions of mediators and lawyers are different, even when the mediator is a lawyer. We act as a lawyer w...

1 2 3