If you're already involved in a lawsuit, mediation offers a huge benefit: It gives you a way to resolve the dispute and leave the court system behind. Believe it or not, mediation often works even if the parties have hired lawyers and the dispute has progressed to all-out litigation warfare. Because parties can speak for themselves in mediation, they can bring up creative ideas, personal feelings, and practical solutions that litigation might discourage. And mediation allows the parties to escape the full force of the lawyers' approach to the lawsuit. Sometimes, lawyers are so focused on winning a case that they lose sight of opportunities for resolution that could include repairing the parties' relationship. The mediator can point out, in different terms than lawyers would use, the strengths and weaknesses of each side's position -- which may, in turn, change each party's view of the prospects of winning (or losing) at trial, and open the door to a mutually acceptable settlement.

Finally, agreements reached through mediation are more likely to be carried out than those imposed by a judge. When folks go to court, the losing party is almost always angry and often prone to look for ways to violate the letter or spirit of any judgment. In contrast, a number of studies show that people who have freely arrived at their own solutions through mediation are significantly more likely to follow through on them.