| The American legal system is overburdened | | | | empowers them and allows what could be a very |
| with lawsuits. Paralegals spent countless | | | | complicated litigious process to be a lot |
| hours doing legal research, drafting | | | | simpler, more successful, and less |
| documents, and interviewing clients in | | | | cumbersome. Mediation techniques can be |
| preparation for a trial. However, there is | | | | employed to solve several different types of |
| an emerging movement that is challenging how | | | | disputes, including family matters such as |
| we as a society handle disputes, and it is | | | | divorce or child custody, owner/tenant or |
| formally termed Alternative Dispute | | | | builder/homeowner problems, community |
| Resolution (ADR). One of the most common | | | | disagreements, or disputes in the |
| forms of ADR is mediation, where a neutral | | | | workplace.Mediation can also save time and |
| third party, termed a mediator, works with | | | | money. For instance, in a divorce/child |
| both sides of a dispute to have them agree on | | | | custody case being settled by litigation, |
| their own terms, without someone else | | | | both sides might spend thousands of dollars |
| deciding what is best for them. As more and | | | | in attorney fees. It might result in several |
| more people choose this route over | | | | court appearances and numerous phone calls |
| litigation, there is an increasing need for | | | | back and forth between their respective law |
| skilled mediators, and paralegals have a | | | | firms. In the end, a judge would decide the |
| tremendous opportunity to fill this void by | | | | outcome and essentially seal their fate, |
| utilizing their analytical abilities and | | | | whether the terms were acceptable to them or |
| undergoing formal training in mediation.Why | | | | not.A similar case handled through mediation, |
| enter the field of mediation? First of all, | | | | however, can often be worked out through |
| mediation works. Given the opportunity and | | | | several sessions with a mediator, at a cost |
| the means to form their own solutions to | | | | much more reasonable than if the case were |
| their problems, many disputants find that it | | | | litigated. |