If proceedings have been started the statements of case, and any other key court documents, are a great starting point. If proceedings haven’t yet begun, the formal letter of claim, along with the response to that, are also good places for me to start my preparation.
It is much better if you can agree with the other party what documents I need to see and let me have those in the form of an agreed bundle. If that is not possible, I’m happy to receive documents from both parties separately.
Summaries of the case (“Position Statements”) are always helpful, both to me and to you because they help us both to focus on what needs to be resolved to bring the dispute to an end. If the parties’ cases are set out in the statements of case I am happy for you to dispense with Position Statements to cut down on costs.
If there is any information which you want to provide to me on a ‘for my eyes only’ basis prior to the mediation you can do that – just make sure that you make it clear that that is the basis upon which that information is being provided!
To allow me time to prepare for the mediation I would like to receive the papers a few days before the date fixed for the mediation. I will also ask you for contact details (phone or email) so that I can get in touch with you before the mediation day to talk through any questions you or I might have.
Mediations work best when you have spent some time before the mediation thinking through what your strong points are, and where you might be on less strong ground. Preparing a position statement and/or list of issues will help you to do that.
Checking whether you have all the information that you will need to either make an offer or be able to respond to an offer made by the other party is important; up to date valuations and other evidence to support the amount of the claim are essential.
If the other party hasn’t seen your evidence on those matters you should consider disclosing it to them before the mediation so that they have the chance to review it. Producing it on the day can often lead to the information being rejected out of hand.
You also need to have an idea of the range of offers which might be acceptable to you. Although the strengths (and sometimes the weaknesses) of your case will be apparent from the position statements (or statements of case), there may be other factors which are personal to you which will influence your approach to the negotiation.
Whilst I would not expect you to disclose those factors to the other party, it is helpful for me to know about them at an early stage of the mediation so that I can have them in mind in my discussions with both sides.
Finally, you need to consider what you know about your opponent’s position. Naturally your immediate focus is on achieving a settlement which is acceptable to you, but that settlement also needs to be acceptable to the other party. It is sensible, therefore, to think through what you know about the other party’s needs in making any proposals for settlement, and how you might be able to accommodate those alongside your own.
A mediation is your opportunity to achieve a resolution to this dispute. The better prepared you are, the more likelihood there is of that resolution being one which is acceptable to you.