Phoenix Mediation Lawyer

Mediation is a process where the parties meet with a nuetral professional called a mediator to negotiate an agreement and to hopefully avoid further court proceedings. You can meet with a mediator at any time before the case is final (i.e., before the case is filed, or at any time during the case). Mediation can take place for all family law issues – i.e. divorce, modifications, enforcement issues, etc.). Mediators are generally attorneys that specialize in the area of law or former judges who have experience in the area of the law.

Depending upon their mediation approach, It is important to realize that many mediators will attempt to settle your case but will not tell you whether the settlement is fair or advise you on what you should do to obtain a fair settlement. Rather their main focus is for the most part limited to exploring what each of the parties is willing to do to compromise. Other mediators are willing to provide more analysis regarding the settlement and take steps to ensure both parties have adequate information to reach a fair settlement.

William D. Bishop has a separate mediation practice. You cannot retain our firm to be your attorney and your mediator as this would create a conflict of interest (i.e., mediators cannot serve as both your attorney and the mediator). If you have not hired our firm and would like to explore having Mr. Bishop serve as the mediator in your case,  please contact our office and let our office manager Carolyn know that you are interested in mediation – 602-749-8500.

Summary of Content

Hire A Mediation Attorney in Phoenix For Your Case

Some “mediators” who claim that they can assist you are not licensed attorneys. Some are licensed attorneys in other states but not in Arizona. Some used to be attorneys and were disbarred or suspended. You sometimes pay as much if not more for these unlicensed and unqualified services. Sometimes, the documents that they help draft can cause more harm than good.

Some mediators may be attorneys but are not very experienced with complex family law issues. We always recommend that you retain an experienced mediation attorney to mediate complex family law cases.

Some psychologists and counselors also provide limited mediation services.  They can often provide you with excellent services regarding legal decision making (legal custody) and parenting issues, although they do not address child support, property, and other financial issues.

Is Mediation Right for You?

Our family law attorneys in Phoenix provide mediation services for family law and divorce clients in Arizona, including  founding attorney, William D. Bishop. Mr. Bishop completed the prestigious Strauss Institute Mediation program at Pepperdine University.  Mr. Bishop has mediated many cases and conducted a substantial number of alternative dispute resolution settlement conferences as a judge pro-tem for the Superior Court of Arizona.

If you would like us to be your Phoenix divorce attorneys, we can attempt to settle your case as your attorneys. If we represent you already and you would like to attempt mediation, we can refer you to a good mediator for purposes of attempting to settle the issues. If we represent you, we usually attend the mediation sessions with you unless both parties agree to go to mediation without their attorneys. Be advised, however, that attorneys cannot act as both your mediator and your individual attorney as this would be a conflict of interest. Our attorney(s) can provide professional mediation services to you and the other party, but we would be unable to represent either you as your attorney if an agreement is not reached in mediation.

We will be more than happy to discuss the different types of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) and help you decide if mediation is the right choice for your situation.

How Much Time & Money Can You Save?

A conventional divorce in Arizona can cost in excess of $20,000 and often takes anywhere from one to three years to be completely resolved. On the other hand, mediation services for an Arizona divorce client averages between $1,000 to $3,500. Even more impressive is the speed with which mediation cases are resolved – the majority of divorce cases require only one or two sessions, each lasting a few hours. To learn more about our mediation services, contact us at (602) 749-8500.

Arizona Process: How Mediation Works

Mediation may be an excellent alternative to assist you in resolving all or a portion of the issues in your divorce proceeding or other family law case. Unless ordered otherwise by the Court, both parties must agree to mediation and who is jointly hired to serve as the mediator. If you are interested in retaining a private mediator, we highly recommend that you retain a qualified Phoenix mediation lawyer licensed in the State Of Arizona to serve as your mediator. Our office provides mediation services, and we will be happy to assist you with settling your case and avoiding lengthy and expensive litigation.

As explained above, the mediator works for both parties (i.e. husband and wife/father and mother), and thus cannot later represent either party as his or her attorney in the event that the mediation is unsuccessful.