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This website is authored by Lester Levy, Esq.
a founding member of JAMS.

  • About
    • About Lester Levy
  • The Basics of Environmental Mediation
    • What types of Environmental Cases can be mediated?
    • The Benefits of Environmental Mediation
    • The Environmental Mediation Process
    • Insurance Company Involvement
    • The Mediation Outcome
  • Case Studies
    • Case Study 1: Objectivity as Resolution Tool Provided Through A Neutral Expert
    • Case Study 2: Working Together
    • Case Study 3: Swift, Fair and Efficient: Awarding Compensation to Toxic Tort Victims
    • Case Study 4: Sequenced Regulatory and Insurance Negotiations
    • Case Study 5: How Communication Both Causes and Ends Conflict
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You are here: Home / The Basics of Environmental Mediation / The Environmental Mediation Process

The Environmental Mediation Process

the environmental mediation process

What occurs in an Environmental Mediation is key to understanding how and why it works to save the parties time and unnecessary expense and is designed ultimately to deliver a better outcome for all parties. Just like snowflakes, no two mediations are exactly alike but there are some common elements in the process that are worth identifying if for no reason other than to help highlight the key differences between mediation and litigation:

  • Selecting a mediator. Unlike litigation, when parties mediate they get to choose the mediator most suited to the case at hand. In itself this presents a huge potential advantage, by selecting someone with the most relevant experience who has a proven track record in resolving similar disputes. Click here to read more about the role of the mediator and some key issues to consider in selecting the right mediator to handle your dispute.
  • Developing a mediation game plan. The initial task for a mediator is to develop, with the parties’ input, a game plan to facilitate the negotiations. Depending on the number of parties and the complexity of the underlying issues, there is a fair amount of art in this threshold task. The mediator is charged with establishing a reliable, coordinated and organized process, involving such steps as pre-meeting planning, establishing agendas, ensuring the presence of necessary attendees, facilitating the exchange of technical data, identifying key documents and other information needed to make informed settlement decisions, and sequencing the issues to be considered, in multiple meetings, including separate insurance and consultant briefings if necessary. Again, this is an important way in which mediation provides considerable flexibility to facilitate settlement in contrast to adhering to the dictates of the Rules of Civil Procedure.
  • Developing trust and Understanding. There are several key parts to this. First, the Mediator provides a confidential forum in which the negotiations are protected from disclosure to non-participants by agreement, court rules and/or statutes. I believe this aspect of mediation is often overlooked or undervalued. Confidentiality allows the participants to speak openly and realistically about issues in dispute – both pro and con – facilitating informed decisions based on potential risks and benefits. Frank conversations such as these do not normally occur as part of the litigation process, where the parties try to speak only to the strengths of their cases and avoid mention of perceived weaknesses. Moreover, if the matter doesn’t settle, nothing said at, or prepared for, the negotiations may be used for or against any party in any other proceeding.

Confidentiality also allows the mediator to meet privately with each party – not just with its lawyers but with clients and insurance representatives with the ultimate decision-making authority. Frank and informative conversations occur in these meeting. The mediator confidentially listens, probes, questions the participants to understand what each party really needs and wants and how it views the issues in dispute. An environment of understanding and trust is built through these conversations.

  • The Basics of Environmental Mediation
  • What types of Environmental Cases can be mediated?
  • The Benefits of Environmental Mediation
  • The Environmental Mediation Process
  • Insurance Company Involvement
  • The Mediation Outcome
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My Latest Posts

  • The inter-generational theft of Brexit and climate change
  • Our Drinking Water Regulation Is So Weak Even Flint’s Water Got A Pass
  • Environmental Mediation: A New Paradigm for Resolving Multi-Party Disputes
  • Flexibility Is Key to Success in Mediation
  • Leaving the EU would put our environment at risk

About Me

lester-levy

I strongly believe in the value of mediation – said another way, environmental mediation really works. I would go even further: I believe that environmental disputes are perfectly suited to the mediation process – perhaps more so than any other area of legal practice. I have formed these views after mediating environmental cases for more than 20 years, throughout the United States, and having worked with thousands of lawyers, companies, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies and courts. My … Read more

My Latest Posts

  • The inter-generational theft of Brexit and climate change
  • Our Drinking Water Regulation Is So Weak Even Flint’s Water Got A Pass
  • Environmental Mediation: A New Paradigm for Resolving Multi-Party Disputes
  • Flexibility Is Key to Success in Mediation
  • Leaving the EU would put our environment at risk

Connect with Me

Lester Levy

JAMS- New York
620 Eighth Ave. (NY Times Building)
34th Floor
New York, NY 10018
P (212) 751-2700

JAMS- San Francisco
2 Embarcadero Center
Suite 1500
San Francisco, CA 94111
P (415) 982-5267

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