The professionals at JDM have honed their mediation skills by conducting settlement negotiations and mediations in thousands of cases of every type and size including, but not limited to:

• Personal Injury and Tort

• Complex Multiparty Business Cases

• Class Actions

• Construction

• Product Liability

• Malpractice

• Personal Injury

• Environmental

• Employment Discrimination

• Commercial/Business

• Real Estate

• Condemnation and Insurance Coverage/Bad Faith Claims

Why utilize mediation services?

High satisfaction

Studies show that a mediated resolution satisfies parties more than when a court imposes a decision on the parties.

Your own personally designed settlement

The parties, with the assistance of a truly neutral Mediator, help create the resolution of the dispute themselves. Using a skilled Mediator with a judicial background or long litigation background only enhances the mediation experience, as parties have a greater sense of justice and a feeling of having had their day in court.

Saves money

Mediation saves litigation expenses.

Voluntary

A third party will not force a resolution or decision on any party. This is much different from the forced resolutions that happen at trial or in arbitration.

Mediation is confidential

By meeting separately with the parties by caucus, a mediator can confidentially and informally explore settlement options without traditional posturing and can consider settlement options without the parties needing to reveal their final positions.

Helps preserve continuing relationships

In most business situations, the parties who mediate their disputes will work together again in the future. Mediation limits the animosity between the parties. This is particularly true in the construction/contractor setting, commercial business situations, contracts and all types of employment relations.

Scheduling your mediation

Online is the most convenient way. You and your counterpart can go online from the comfort of your own office. Use our online “schedule mediation” calendar tool located on this website to mutually select your date, fill out the required “Schedule Mediation” form and submit the request by email. You will receive confirmation of your scheduled mediation within one day.

Call JDM directly for a more personal touch, and one of our assistants will help you schedule your mediation: (816) 931-6300. If you prefer, you may also download and complete the form, then email it to [email protected].

Be realistic

Don’t let your client get stuck in an unrealistic mode of thinking that the case is a “home run.” Your client will not want to negotiate if they get anchored to a specific result, outcome or dollar amount. Help the client be flexible and open-minded.

Prepare for mediation, not trial

In mediation, attorney advocacy has to take a back seat to negotiation. Strong advocacy tends to provoke a similar response in the client and can lead to the hardening of bargaining positions.

Resist temptation

Do not take on your client’s animosity toward the adversary or adverse counsel. Keep your distance from your client’s anger; it is best for your client and will benefit the mediation.

Prepare mediation briefs for the Mediator

The briefs should include a timeline, the facts, the law, important discovery issues, summary judgment or dismissal suggestions in support, possible trial issues including difficult evidentiary issues, instructional issues or any other matter potentially relevant to the case, and thus to the mediation. This is your opportunity to have an experienced trial judge or litigator give you a sense of likely rulings on legal arguments or evidence.

Continue to be realistic

Avoid spending time negotiating in a place beyond the likely range of settlement discussions. It tends to discourage the other side from taking you seriously, and it might bring about an impasse when there is still plenty of negotiating room on both sides.

Prepare your client

Be honest with your client despite a natural reluctance to give your client a candid (i.e., negative) assessment of the case for fear of seeming disloyal or uncommitted. The Mediator’s assessment can help the client avoid responsibility for compromising the case and their principles. Let the Mediator help you bring reality to your client’s perspective.

The mediation session

All participants meet in a joint session. All parties will be present, as well as counsel. Typically, an insurance representative will also be present and/or an owner or manager of a business, depending on the case type.

After the Mediator’s introductory remarks and the signing of the Mediation Agreement, the parties may proceed immediately to caucusing, or each party may make an opening statement, depending on the most productive style of mediation for the case. This will be determined prior to the mediation.

After the joint session, the Mediator will meet privately with both sides in separate meetings or caucuses. In these confidential sessions, the Mediator discusses the case with counsel and the parties, assesses the risks of the case, and considers the best and worst outcomes, the quality of the evidence, the costs of litigation and other factors. The Mediator will explore possible settlements and will likely go back and forth between the parties to explore possible settlements.

When the parties reach a settlement, it will be outlined in a written agreement, as required by Missouri law.

If the case does not settle

While most cases do settle at the mediation, if the case does not settle during the mediation, our Mediators will conduct follow-up mediation sessions by phone/email until they have made all reasonable efforts to resolve the case. There will be no charge for these follow-up sessions unless they become extensive and the post-mediation efforts result in a settlement of the case. Sometimes the parties need a second face-to-face mediation session.

In that event, the parties will schedule the added sessions, and our Mediators will conduct them like the initial face-to-face session. There are additional hourly charges for these supplementary face-to-face sessions.

Confidentiality

The parties recognize that mediation proceedings are settlement negotiations and that all aspects of the mediation are inadmissible in any related litigation or arbitration proceedings. Evidence that is admissible or otherwise discoverable shall not be rendered inadmissible or non-discoverable as a result of its use in the mediation session. In the event the parties do reach a settlement, the terms of the agreement will be reduced to writing and may be admissible in court in any effort to enforce the settlement agreement, unless the parties agree otherwise. Any information disclosed to the Mediator in private caucus shall remain confidential unless the party agrees it may be disclosed.