Mediation: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know

In the first installment of this series, Zach McGee provides an overview of the mediation process and explains why for most civil litigators, mediation is the place where their cases are really going to be decided, and what that means for how you should prepare and perform. This program covers the full life cycle of a civil mediation: why mediation has become the “main event” in modern litigation, how to decide when a case is ripe to mediate, how to select and work with a mediator, what to do in the critical weeks before the session so you and your client are truly ready and what happens on a typical mediation day. Along the way, Zach offers concrete guidance on mediation briefs, client counseling, negotiation sequencing, and the strategic use of tools like brackets and mediator’s proposals, as well as how to think about non-monetary terms that often make or break a deal. The program closes with a practical set of do’s and don’ts that you can use as a checklist before your next mediation, so you can approach the process as a core lawyering skill rather than a box to check on the way to trial.