Self-Determination in Mediation

Dan Simon, MA, JD, is a fellow and board member of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation (ISCT). Dan has practiced and taught mediation since 1996, and he has been licensed to practice law in Minnesota since 1992. He is a past-chair of the ADR Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association and served for six years on the Minnesota Supreme Court’s ADR Ethics Board. He wrote “Transformative mediation for divorce: Rising above the law and the settlement,” a chapter in ?Transformative Mediation: A Sourcebook ?(ACR, 2010), and co-authored “Transformative mediation: Illustrating a relational view of conflict intervention,” a chapter in ?The Mediation Handbook? (Routledge, 2017). He also writes the blog for the ISCT and is a featured blogger on Mediate.com. Dan has provided mediation training as an adjunct professor at the law schools of Hofstra University and the University of North Dakota, as well as through his own organization, Simon Mediation. Tara West, JD, PhD, author of The Mediator’s Approach: Five (and a Half) Paths Through Conflict, is a certified transformative mediator and conflict coach. She has been trained in facilitative, evaluative, understanding-based, and transformative approaches to mediation, and has mediated in public and private settings. Tara has taught and developed undergraduate and graduate psychology courses covering topics such as socio-cultural approaches to psychology, developmental psychology, personality psychology, group processes, and the psychology of conflict resolution. Tara earned her PhD in Social and Health Psychology from Stony Brook University and her JD from the New York University School of Law.

Dan Simon and Tara West shine a powerful light on the central principle that distinguishes mediation from nearly all other conflict intervention processes: party self-determination. With courage and clarity, they examine this abstract concept with practical examples and candid discussion that reveals the many real ways that mediators either support—or interfere with—party agency, choice, and the possibility of constructive interaction. In the end, the reader is left with a deeper and clearer appreciation for the importance of reflecting on their own (often subtle) practices to support parties as they work through their own conflicts. This is a must-read for all who seek to improve their mediation practice by better shining a light without casting their own shadow on the people who really matter in the mediation room.

• AcknowledgmentsForeword: Reflective Practice and Deeply Held ValuesIntroductionChapter 1 Self-Determination MattersChapter 2 A Crisis in InteractionChapter 3 Self-Determination and Our Desire to ConnectChapter 4 Self-Determination and Solving ProblemsChapter 5 The Art of Using Mirrors and LightsChapter 6 The Temptation to Nudge Parties Toward AgreementChapter 7 Self-Determination Is the Best ProtectionChapter 8 Self-Determination and Procedural ComplicationsChapter 9 Self-Determination and LawyersChapter 10 The Choice Is YoursReferencesList of QuotationsIndexAbout the Authors