Join Katherine Miller and Michelle Exline Minovi for an essential exploration of mediation when attorneys are present alongside their clients. This engaging webinar addresses the unique dynamics, challenges, and opportunities that arise in lawyer-accompanied mediations. 

Drawing from the Center for Understanding in Conflict’s model, attendees will learn how to foster genuine dialogue and understanding even within the complex attorney-client-mediator triangle. Our approach can allay fears of some mediators that lawyers will wrest control over the process and turn a mediation into a confrontation. We’ll examine how to maintain focus on underlying needs and interests while respecting legal counsel’s protective role, and explore techniques for creating space where all voices – clients and attorneys alike – can contribute meaningfully to resolution. 

Key topics include:

• Establishing ground rules and expectations that honor both legal advocacy and collaborative problem-solving
• Recognizing and working with the tension between positional advocacy and interest-based dialogue
• Facilitating communication that allows clients to be heard while respecting attorney-client relationships
• Managing moments when legal strategy conflicts with relational healing or creative problem-solving

Whether you’re an experienced mediator seeking to refine your approach or new to mediations with participating lawyers, this session will provide practical tools and insights for navigating these complex but rewarding mediations. Participants will leave with concrete strategies for fostering understanding even when the room includes zealous advocates.