Karen Matcke Crosby

Karen Matcke Crosby Attorney / Mediator P.C. 35+ years of legal practice and 15+ years as a mediator. WHY MEDIATION CAN BE SUPERIOR TO COURT By Karen Matcke Crosby (2021) Court litigation exposes parties to great public exposure, expense and long delays in court proceedings. Litigants have little or no control over the procedural process. How a dispute arose in the first place, is given short shrift, failing to consider the parties’ intentions, experience in negotiations (or lack thereof), personality, ego, culture, norms, morals, bullying, customs, or values. What is heard in court is the representing attorney’s version of his client’s legal interest, often litigants are disappointed and feel cheated. Opposition attorneys can succeed by tearing down people’s credibility in court. Supporting witnesses can become unavailable, tipping the balance of information presented. Showing who is right and who is wrong, who wins and who loses is the “legal” goal. Even where both sides may be correct to some extent on different issues, the law may not be able to fully remedy the problems presented. Litigants do not control the outcome. Mediation on the other hand, generally provides a confidential private forum, without assigning blame, to privately discuss matters, (generally not admissible in subsequent court proceedings), by providing a private neutral listener, who is without bias and who has no personal interest in the outcome, to work without judgment as a guide to clarify facts, information, law and issues in conflict. This in turn helps to manage anxiety, emotions or possible hostility. Litigants have control of the consequences of their decisions and actions in reaching resolution of the issues.