Why I also became a mediator
I work in two roles: as an attorney and as a mediator. The two are not the same kind of work, but they sit well side by side.
“I became a lawyer because I wanted to help people solve their problems. But legal work isn't always the best tool for that. I often feel that a dispute would be settled more easily if I could step out of the representative's role – out of representing only one side – and, standing in the middle and representing neither, mediate between them.
As a lawyer I also see that the structure of legal proceedings often lets one side win only at the expense of the other losing. Mediation is different: there the question is not who wins and who loses, but finding together the solution with which both sides can walk away as winners.
That is what led me to mediation. The mediator's role makes exactly this possible, and sometimes I can find a solution more effectively this way than as a lawyer. I haven't traded one role for the other – I do the two in turn: sometimes I represent someone, and sometimes no one, and simply help the solution itself.”
What I like about mediation
It isn't about the truth
The point is not to decide who is right – almost always both sides are right to some extent. What matters is not whose legal position is stronger, but how much each is willing to give up of their own being right. That way an agreement can emerge that is not necessarily correct from a legal point of view – yet works in the relationship between the parties.
I create communication
People sit down facing each other who previously could not talk to each other at all, or only angrily, in rage, perhaps shouting. During mediation they listen again to each other's views and problems.
We give the relationship a future
Behind many disputes there is a relationship that the parties had already written off as dead. Mediation gives it a chance to continue after all – whether it is a business partnership, a family or a workplace relationship.
Every case is a new story
No two cases are alike. Every new case is a new story, a new opportunity and a new challenge – this is what keeps the work constantly exciting.
As a lawyer, I strengthen one side. As a mediator, neither side – but the path itself that leads to a solution.
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