AboutTimmy Chou Expertise I am a experienced Mediator and a partner in a management consulting firm. As a mediator I work as a third-party neutral and specialize in partnership/shareholder disputes, management/labor issues, company culture difficulties, and family-owned business problems. I can help describe why alternative dispute resolution may be a good choice for you. As an experienced management consultant I may be able to offer creative ideas to help resolve your organizational and business problems and disputes. "If you say conflict, I say opportunity".
Question I am currently a student of Adult Organizational Development and will be obtaining an undergraduate degree in this major in May of 09. Mediation is one of my biggest career interests and I have plans to participate in training over the summer that include the basic distributive and transformative models and advanced specialty training in family dispute. What is a realistic expectation of working and surviving in this field? Thank you for giving your time to answer questions.
Answer Thank you for your question.
Mediators, as you know, are trained in specialized facilitation skills and work to bring disputing parties together to work out solutions. They specifically do not advocate any position or try to persuade parties to do one thing or another, but they typically will work to identify the core issues underlying disputes and try to craft creative solutions.
The ADR profession is still really in its infancy and only primitive professional structure exists for practitioners in many states. Often, virtually anyone may provide services as a mediator. However, licensure is offered in many states, some with training requirements and others merely requiring the oversight of another licensed mediator for a time. Interestingly, few states will forbid you to offer services if you are not state licensed. For example, a sample of the Virginia mediation code and rules is available here:
My experience is that effective mediators have taken advantage of some specific training because the role of a neutral facilitator is quite different. Lawyers and therapists may have to retool their natural professional approach and behave in some counter-intuitive ways. Quite a range of training is offered from Master's degrees to specific certificate training (such as ADR in health care settings, for example). It is not necessary to go to law school to be an effective mediator, though many lawyers offer mediation services (and many have really no training to do so). ADR is offered in certificate programs and undergraduate schools and graduate schools across the country.
Seminars on ADR are likely offered through law schools or through local court systems in your location. Be sure to check out the ABA site.
The truth is that it is very difficult to "start out" as a mediator or arbiter. Virtually anyone who gets into the field permanently as a career has come from some other field and is able to rely on related expertise and income. Typically professors, attorneys, people with state department experience, therapists, and consultants have the credibility and financial resources to make a career viable, but almost all of us begin (and continue) mediation work relying on income from our primary expertise. Typically, for example, a new mediator gets trained and begins a practice by getting on the state mediator list. However, there are usually dozens of more experienced people on the list and you have to just sit there and see what happens. Other than the yellow pages perhaps, it is not usually cost-effective to advertise (except for divorce mediation in some states). My primary cases come by referrals from colleagues or lawyers that know my work over the years and trust me. Rates are about $150/hour. Only about 1 out of 5 referrals actually become cases I hear and bill out -- as I typically spend time qualifying the parties individually on the phone before agreeing to mediate the case.
I can tell you that mediation is by far some of the most rewarding work I do and when successful it makes a big difference in people's lives. It has never been, however, a source of significant income. The big money in mediation is in teaching, or in areas like environmental mediation, peacemaking (diplomacy), health care, insurance, human resource, or other large institutional or governmental settings. This usually is just another job -- but at least it is rewarding if successful. Divorce mediation has emerged in recent years as a somewhat successful private business model in some states where the mediated settlement is allowed as a stipulated judgment, but divorce lawyers are not happy about being cut out of the process.
Some career paths are emerging in some states through local government and court systems. These jobs are typically around court-ordered mediation for divorces, small business disputes, and often around victim-offender mediation. They are usually staff level court-system jobs that do not pay tremendous salaries. Some states and private foundations sponsor and fund quasi-governmental mediation "centers" in a non-profit model. These are few and far between.
If you are committed to this career path, I would encourage you to spend alot of time up-front in as many training venues as possible. Numerous groups sponsor seminars and certificate programs in everything from health care to military mediation. If you put a serious oar in the water and jump out there full-speed, you can make things happen, but it will take time and you will have to spend considerable time in volunteer mediation sessions as you develop credibility with your local peers.
