The decision on when to mediate is an important one. Indeed, one of the most common reasons why cases do not settle is because the parties tried to mediate too early in the dispute process. When is the right time to mediate? In my mind, it is when the individuals with settlement authority have “decision-quality information.”

The federal government began to actively embrace the notion of alternative dispute resolution in agency administrative processes after passage of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 (ADRA) (5 U.S.C. 571 – 581). At that time, one of the agency leaders responsible for implementation of the ADRA began to talk about the need to have “decision-quality information” before engaging in mediation. As I found myself mediating more and more contract disputes, I began to appreciate that those three words—“decision quality information”—were much more than a catchy little phrase. To the contrary, in my experience, cases settle in mediation when the people with settlement authority are able to attend the mediation and are armed with “decision-quality information.”

Originally published on Law.com on October 30, 2014.