Oftentimes, when two parties have a disagreement and that disagreement involves money in any way, they end up in court, letting a judge decide who is right and who is wrong. But when all is said and done, and they receive their legal bills, neither feels like the winner. This happens because legal bills can easily end up being in the tens of thousands of dollars.
This is why considering a mediation lawyer is a great idea. For a fraction of the expense, an attorney can sit down with both parties and help hash out the issue, in hopes of reaching an acceptable conclusion. A mediation lawyer in Melbourne, FL had this to say: “we will see a conclusion to the problem in only one or two sessions and the bill for both parties combined is less than a thousand bucks. It would simply be unreasonable not to try mediation first.”
So, what is the success rate, you may ask? Based on a study of 449 cases handled by major alternative dispute resolution providers in the United States, mediation settled 78% of cases, regardless of whether participation was court-ordered or voluntary. In a wider commercial context, data from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) indicates that 75-80% of cases settle on the day of mediation, with an additional 10-15% settling shortly afterward, leading to an overall success rate of around 86%.
The highest levels of success are achieved in family law and estates law cases. The parties involved in these two types of cases usually understand from the outset that going to trial can eat up and of the funds they are hoping to secure. Why pay ten thousand dollars to a trial attorney when you can hash out the details in a room with a trained attorney who is impartial and not there to take sides?
The state of Florida actually leads the nation in mediation cases at over 100,000 per year, this according to an article from the Florida Bar. As of 2024, there are over 5,500 mediators in the state of Florida alone. And trust me, they stay pretty busy. Florida is a massive state with over 22 million people from all walks of life. Half of her residents are transplants from other states or nations. There are plenty of legal disputes to go around.
In the end a person has to ask themselves, do I want the issue solved quickly, cheaply and fairly? Or do I want this case to drag on for months or even years and pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees? The answer seems like a no-brainer yet over 20% of cases never even attempt this stage. And it may not be in the best interest of their attorney to suggest mediation first because there is much more money to be made for the attorney. Talk about a conflict of interest.
Conclusion
The next time you have a disagreement or major problem which requires legal intervention, surely you must consider contacting a licensed mediator first. If it doesn’t look promising after one session (which only cost a few hundred bucks) then definitely consider taking the case to court.
