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RIGHT BRAIN APPEALS

Seating During Mediation

Seating parties to a mediation on the opposite sides of a conference room table can add to the sense of division that exists between them.

To reduce this feeling, some mediators make it a practice to seat disputants around a crescent shaped or round table. Some even go further, and undertake to intersperse the parties and their attorneys amongst themselves.

The author is of the view that the potential benefits of such seating arrangements are not worth the risks in the mediation of the typical employment dispute where tempers can sometimes flare. He is of the opinion, however, that they may be effectively used where the parties’ employment relationship continues to exist, and the parties are willing to work in a collaborative manner toward the resolution of their dispute.

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