You need to carefully manage the arrival of parties on the day of the mediation. I always ensure that I arrive in plenty of time before the parties are scheduled to arrive. This allows you to be cool, calm, and collected and in the right frame of mind. It also gives you time to set up the room before others arrive.

It is important to schedule the arrivals of the parties. I would suggest half an hour apart. This avoids them turning up and bumping into each other in an unprepared way. It also allows you to have some time with each separately before you start to make sure the parties are ready to go and are settled. The parties can also have the opportunity to go through their opening statements and ask any questions about the process or how the day will go.

This meeting is also used to obtain the parties' signatures to the Agreement to Mediate, which ensures that parties sign up to and commit to the confidentiality of the process. I have provided a sample of an Agreement to Mediate in the appendix. At this stage, you should go through any questions that the parties may have regarding the agreement and, assuming they are willing to do so, ask them to sign it.

I am often asked what happens if one party breaches either the Agreement to Mediate or the confidentiality rule. While technically this is a breach of contract, the reality is that there is little that the other person can do about it. The costs and difficulty of pursuing a claim for breach of contract would be prohibitive and the breach has already occurred. I am very open with parties on this point and stress that the agreement is much more about a moral obligation to honor the confidentiality. In view of this, if you have any doubt about whether a party will honor the confidentiality, my advice would be not to proceed unless, and until, this is fully understood and accepted.

Once both parties have arrived, have signed the agreement, and are ready to proceed, the mediation commences with all parties meeting together.