I am involved in a legal case and have been researching mediation.
Its interesting reading.
In the court system, mediators are there to broker an agreeable solution between parties. Mediators are not legal experts and are not required to know the law. I reiterate, the mediator is brokering agreeable solution between the parties. The court ratifies the agreements and checks that they are within the law.
The mediators skill and role is to get parties talking and agreeing.
In any mediation session, you do not have to come to an agreement if you don’t want to. The next port of call is then the court where the head of the court will hear the facts of the case and make a determination based on the law.
Most lawyers will tell you that its better to get an agreement at mediation as it results in an ‘agreeable’ solution to all, rather than to go to the court or tribunal and get a strict legal ruling.
The courts use mediation in order to get faster and cheaper resolution to issues. You don’t have to agree to solve things at the mediation.
Robert