It is mandatory in divorce cases for the parties to attend a Mediation Information & Assessment Meeting (MIAM) where they can learn about the possibility to negotiate their divorce agreement via mediation instead of in court.
Solicitors face the unusual situation of needing to refer clients to a family mediator instead of being able to immediately sell them the service of negotiating a divorce settlement in court.
To meet this need over the long term, you need a quality mediator who will provide an ethical service, giving the client the information they need and a fair opportunity to decide how to proceed.
While the MIAM is mandatory, mediation itself is not, and a good divorce mediator will make sure the client is aware of this, so they can make a genuine decision about whether to mediate or litigate.
Divorce solicitors and family mediators are part of the same ecosystem and we work best when we work together. It’s important to choose a family mediator who understands this and whose services will complement, rather than compete with your own.
Referring a client to a mediator does not mean losing their business. Although the mediator may help them to reach a mutual agreement, in many cases the client still needs the help of a solicitor to resolve any remaining legal disputes and to get their divorce finalised. In many cases, the mediator and the lawyer can work together in the best interests of their client.
In some cases, albeit a minority, divorce mediation just turns out to not be what the client needs, and a good mediator will recognise when this is the case and hand the client back to their solicitor to take the negotiations to court.
Across all of these circumstances and many other specific situations, the mediator acts as a colleague and ally to the solicitor, and this helps to establish a positive long-term business relationship that allows both parties to prosper.
At Marcia Mediation we are proud of our proven track record of working alongside Manchester solicitors on a long history of positive divorce cases.
We appreciate the hard work carried out by divorce solicitors in Manchester – including the unpaid counselling you often have to provide to worried clients.
Mediators are in a good position to offer this mediation support so you can concentrate on carrying out the legal work, and at Marcia Mediation we believe strongly in reducing stress for our clients, which can naturally reduce stress for their solicitors too.
We also provide aftercare to our clients, so we can handle any worries they have in the future and refer them back to you if a legitimate legal dispute arises. Marcia Lister was a former lawyer for many years.
As a result, we know what you need from us and work hard to provide the quality mediation service required by you and your clients – both now and over the course of a long and fruitful collaboration in the years to come. If you wish to get in touch to discuss this further please get in touch here.
If you have any questions, call us on 0161 425 3940 or fill out this form
