Mediation – From Frustration to Resolution

A mediator’s job is to protect one thing above all else: momentum.

This case lost it. After a full day of mediation, the gap was not just wide, it was demoralizing. The defendant’s best and final offer came in at less than half of what the plaintiffs needed. The plaintiffs walked out frustrated and ready to fight.

A month later, the defendant asked to try again. No new promises. No assurance the money would be there. Just a willingness to keep talking.

The plaintiffs were not interested. They felt burned. Fair. But walking away would have guaranteed more time, more cost, and more uncertainty.

So I asked them to trust the process one more time. They agreed, reluctantly.

The second session was a grind. Slow movement. Tough conversations. Fatigue on both sides. But engagement returned, and with it, progress.

By the end of the day, both sides reached the number every mediator looks for, the right uncomfortable number. Not a win. Not a loss. A resolution.

The case that needed to settle, settled.

Sometimes the most important move in a negotiation is not the next offer. It is showing up again.