Mediation Week 2017

American Bar Association (ABA) Mediation Week is in progress and the theme this year is "Mediation, Civility and the Power of Understanding." As lawyers and mediators, we understand both the challenges and rewards of helping parties in conflict reach an agreement by getting past differences in positions, by understanding each other’s perspectives better, and by finding ways to get their important interests met while staying true to their values and belief systems. Programs held during ABA Mediation Week provide neutrals, advocates and policy makers with inspiration and tools necessary to bridge the gap that often prevents amicable resolution of disputes. Over the last few decades the field of alternative dispute resolution has grown tremendously, helping to clear dockets in the courts. The recognition that not all cases are well suited for the adversarial process and that there are multiple paths to justice is increasingly shared by attorneys, judges, and the public. ABA Mediation Week celebrates of the strides in institutionalizing mediation as one of several appropriate dispute resolution processes. Our firm is contributing by putting on a program this week at the University of Florida College of Law's Institute for Dispute Resolution. My topic is Language of Mediation in which my colleague and I look at destructive language patterns and modes of communication, including cultural metaphors and discourse analysis. Simply put, language has an impact on a subconscious as well as a conscious level. In the setting of conflict resolution, it offers concrete, positive alternatives to potentially destructive speech. With more awareness of the relationships among language, culture and diversity, a mediation participant’s sensitivity to the importance of structural and non-verbal aspects of communication should increase. See more on our UF program here-- http://bit.ly/2gklRkm