Mediation
At Barriston Law, we believe in giving our clients peace of mind. If you find yourself in a dispute with someone, perhaps your employer, your neighbour, your builder, your spouse, or virtually anyone else, we can assist. Our first preference is to help you solve the dispute and help you move on. That’s what Mediation is for. Our trained mediators can assist both parties in finding a mutually-agreeable solution.
Mediation is much less costly than going to court over a dispute. If both of you are in agreement, you can share the cost of the mediation services, cutting in half what it would cost for both of you to each retain a lawyer. Our mediators are trained to deal with the strong emotions which both parties might feel toward each other because of your dispute. They help you both focus on the problem and find a mutually acceptable solution which, hopefully, will reduce the tension and the pain which such conflicts can bring.
Our mediators are not judges. They won’t give you the solution or make you do anything. They help the parties understand the problem from both sides so you can find your own solution which is usually far better than any solution imposed by a Judge – there’s no winner and loser, you both win.
There are different kinds of mediation practices – we can offer evaluative, interest based, transformational or narrative mediation. All have a different place and all are often mixed together depending on the situation.
Once you reach an agreement in mediation it is important to take that agreement to a lawyer for legal advice. The mediated agreement is not legally binding until your lawyer and the lawyer for the other party put in writing for you and you both sign it. This is a “fail safe” mechanism to protect each party.
It is also important to remember that mediation is currently not a government regulated profession so you need to pick a mediator who has had the proper training. You can find out what mediators need to do to become certified by reviewing either the Family Mediation Canada web site at http://www.fmc.ca/ or the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario web site https://www.fdrio.ca/ . There you will see more information about mediation, as well. The Government of Ontario also has good information at http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/divorce/mediation/