Resolving issues by exploring options and respecting all involved.
WHO WE ARE:
Ronald E. Corkern, Jr., Steven D. Crews, J. Chris Guillet, Kay Stothart Rector, and associates are experienced mediators that provide comprehensive mediation services throughout Louisiana in personal injury, construction law, commercial litigation, real estate litigation, family law, successions and workers' compensation.
Mediation involves the intervention of a third person, or mediator, into a dispute to assist the parties in negotiating jointly acceptable resolution of issues in conflict. The mediator meets with the parties at a neutral location where the parties can discuss the dispute and explore a variety of solutions.
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The goal of the mediation is to settle the case on the date of mediation. But even if the parties do not resolve the dispute, mediation will frequently highlight the real issues in the dispute and enhance the communications between the parties, fostering an improved working relationship.
The goals of mediation are for the parties to:
1. settle the case so that the litigation may be dismissed
2. share feelings and reduce hostilities,
3. clear up misunderstandings,
4. determine underlying interests and concerns,
5. find areas of agreement, and
6. incorporate those areas into solutions devised by the parties themselves.
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The advantage of mediation over more traditional court-based procedures is that it provides an environment for creative problem-solving between the parties. Through the skilled assistance of the mediator, disputants are encouraged to listen, keep confidences, be empathetic, suspend preconceived judgements, respect each other's values, and focus on resolving the underlying conflict.