Video Mediation

Conducting a Mediation in-person requires that the Mediator, both parties, and any lawyers, all need to agree on, and travel to, the same physical location, which has been booked in advance. This will incur travel time and costs, and possibly room booking fees and / or hotel expenses.

A convenient alternative to in-person Mediation is Video Mediation in which all of the Mediation is carried out remotely using a video conferencing platform (Zoom).

What do you need?

For Video Mediation to work, everyone taking part in the Mediation will need to be able to reliably connect to a Zoom video call with their camera on.

This includes the following:

1. A quiet, comfortable, private space where they can be during the Mediation, and not be interrupted or distracted
2. A reasonable internet connection – the connection will need to be reliable and fast enough to stream video. Most domestic and commercial broadband connections would be good enough for this.
3. A laptop, or other computer, with a camera, microphone and speakers / head-phones
4. Free software from Zoom installed on their computer

Since the COVID-19 virus lockdowns a large number of people have access to the required technology, and may already be familiar with using Zoom or other similar video conferencing software.

How does it work?

For a Video Mediation we follow the same stages as an in-person Mediation (see What is Mediation?), but instead of agreeing and booking a physical location for the mediation, I will check that all the participants are set up with the correct technology, etc, for the Video Mediation (including a practise connection via Zoom).

Prior to the Video Mediation, I will send all participants the link for the Zoom meeting.

At the start of the Video Mediation, the parties and their lawyers, will start in their own Zoom “break-out rooms”, which is the equivalent of their private room in an in-person Mediation. The Zoom “main meeting room” is used for joint sessions. The Mediator can easily move from one break-out room to another, and also move participants between the main room and break-out rooms.

Written offers can be made via email, or via Zoom chat. Settlement Agreements can be signed via e-signing platforms such as docusign (one of the lawyers in the Mediation may well already have facilities for this).