FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Many disputes can be resolved in a single 3 hr session, for which I charge $550. This includes reviewing the participants' statements beforehand and ensuring that the final agreement is written up. $150 ($75/party) is payable up front, and a balance of $400 on the day of mediation. I will extend the session to four hours if required at no additional charge - thereafter my fee is $200/hr rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes. I'm not about watching the clock and I will advise everyone as we go along as to progress. For more extended mediations such as divorce, I charge for three initial two-hour sessions, a flat rate of $900 in total including everything (that's $450 each). At the end of the second session I state whether whether I think we will need more sessions than the third session to complete, and the participants can decide how to proceed. I am aware that in divorce cases the process seems to be endless and expensive. I will provide complete certainty about the mediation costs up front and will never leave you hanging.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
I'm usually contacted by one of the people having a dispute, or sometimes a lawyer. The first thing I need to establish is that everyone involved is willing to try and work out a resolution using mediation. Sometimes that means that I contact the other people and broach the subject of mediation. Once I know that everyone is in agreement, I talk to the participants separately or together and usually have everyone fill in some online forms to collect information in preparation for the actual mediation discussions. In some cases the participants in a dispute do not even want to be in the same room. We can still mediate. You do not have to see, talk to, or communicate in any way with any other participant in a mediation if you do not want to.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I took a 100-hour course at CSUN (basic mediator training is 40 hours). I have also taken quite a few extended trainings and workshops. However, the best training for mediation is experience. I have several hundred cases under my belt.