Mediation is becoming more familiar to many people as it has become a key part of the family justice system over the last 10 years. The aim of the Mediation Team at Edwards Duthie Shamash is to provide answers to all your questions about the mediation process. If you don’t find answers to your questions here, then please do call us on 020 8514 9000 or email us directly and a member of the team will be happy to speak to you on the phone.

Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM)

A MIAM is a one to one meeting with your mediator. It allows your mediator to assess the suitability of your case for mediation as well as telling you about other ways to resolve your dispute and also importantly to talk to you about safeguarding and domestic violence screening. It also allows you the opportunity to ask questions and explain your position and what you want to get resolved from the process.

All of our offices are well situated to carry out MIAMs. Face to face Miams are always carried out in a private and confidential space where only you and the mediator are present. However if you would like to bring someone with you to this meeting this is generally allowed. As well as face to face MIAMs we also regularly carry out MIAMs online.

Attending a MIAM is mandatory if you wish to issue court proceedings and if your case doesn’t proceed beyond the MIAMs stage we will always offer to provide a MIAMs certificate at no additional cost.

Face to Face Mediation sessions

The second stage of the mediation process after your MIAM meeting is a mediation meeting. The normal way this happens is both you and your ex partner  sitting in the same room across a table with a mediator working with you both to discuss the issues you need to resolve. The mediator will often use a shared screen or whiteboard during the meeting and at the end of the mediation session will summarise further work required before the next meeting.

The setting for face to face mediation sessions is important. All of our offices have large meeting rooms with plenty of space to allow you to safely sit and discuss the issues which need to be resolved with the help of your mediator.

All of our offices have disabled access and we also have the ability to allow you and your ex partner to sit in different areas before the meeting if this is necessary. For more information about the facilities available including disable access at any of our offices please speak to our mediation team.

Shuttle Mediation sessions

Sometimes it is better for you and your ex partner if you sit in different rooms with the mediator during the mediation session. The mediator will spend time with each of you and go back and forth between the two rooms (hence the word “shuttle”). This form of mediation importantly gives you both the opportunity of discussing matters without having to sit in the same room or see each other. Normally with Shuttle mediation sessions we would expect you and your ex partners to arrive and leave our offices at different times and also sit in different waiting areas before the meeting.

Our three largest offices at Stratford, Waterloo and Ilford are all suitable for shuttle mediation and we will discuss whether shuttle mediation is the best option for you when you have your MIAM. If one person wants shuttle mediation, we would never insist that they sit in the same room as their ex-partner

Online Mediation

Online mediation has increased in popularity in recent months but has been used by mediators for many years. Our mediation team are very experienced at online mediations and MIAMs meetings.

Online mediation can be used for shuttle as well as face to face meetings and means you do not have to travel to our offices for the meeting to take place.

Documents can be shared between you during and before the meeting and the mediator will have all the tools they would have used in a face to face meeting available to them.

One day Mediation Model (with your solicitor)

At our Ilford office, Stratford office and Waterloo office we have facilities perfectly designed to conduct one day mediations. The one-day model allows you to get the whole process done in one day (with the exception of the MIAM which would have been done in advance). Generally people choose to bring their solicitor with them to the one day mediations (or have them available at the end of a phone) and the solicitor  would then be available to advise you throughout the process and also to advise you on the final mediation agreement.

The one-day mediation model involves a series of mediation meetings (either face to face or shuttle) followed by breaks in which you can speak to your solicitor. Meetings continue throughout the day with breaks when needed.

Once an agreement has been reached you and your solicitor can consider it in detail and confirm if you are happy for it to be formalised.

Many people see the one-day model as having very significant advantages over the normal process which can take several months. To make this model work you would be given at your MIAM meeting a list of documents to obtain in advance of the day and the meeting would only be fixed once all documentation had been obtained.

Prices for our one-day mediation model are available on request.

For more information, please call us on 020 8514 9000 or email us directly and a member of the team will be happy to speak to you on the phone.