In the last three decades, mediation has been increasingly used in the United States and elsewhere. Much has been written about the philosophical underpinnings and ethical dilemmas of mediation as well as its applications both within judicial systems and beyond the limits of these systems. However, some very basic challenges remain: How can entrenched positions, strong emotions, and cultural differences be dealt with? Mediation expertise is truly achieved when a mediator learns to overcome these challenges through experience and intuition. To speed up the learning curve of mediation expertise, Jean Poitras and Susan Raines have benchmarked the mediation process in Expert Mediators: Overcoming Mediation Challenges in Workplace, Family, and Community Conflicts. Tapping the experience and wisdom of over 175 highly qualified mediators from across different realms of the mediation practice (e.g., family mediation, workplace mediation, commercial mediation) and across geographic regions (e.g., U.S., Australia, Europe, Israel, Canada), this book integrates best practices in order to improve the performance of mediators. For each proposed strategy, this book discusses conditions under which each practice should be used as well as approaches to mitigate risks associated with using each strategy and technique.

Jean Poitras, PhD, is an associate professor of conflict management at HEC Montréal in Canada. He developed comprehensive knowledge of conflict management through his experience as a consultant and the conclusions of his research work. For more than 15 years now, Professor Poitras has been helping professionals develop their skills in negotiation and mediation. His research program focuses on the intervention strategies used in mediation and negotiation, as well as on the development of diagnostic tools to measure the levels of conflict in organizations. Professor Poitras has published numerous articles and books on mediation, negotiation and conflict management. He is a member of the editorial review boards of several publications: Conflict Resolution Quarterly, International Journal of Conflict Management, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, Negotiation Journal.

Acknowledgments
IntroductionWhy do we need to benchmark mediation?
CHAPTER 1 Tapping expert mediators' knowledge
CHAPTER 2 Dealing with parties' resistance to mediation
CHAPTER 3 Dealing with mistrust among parties
CHAPTER 4 Dealing with difficult attorneys
CHAPTER 5 Dealing with cultural differences
CHAPTER 6 Maintaining neutrality in mediation
CHAPTER 7 Dealing with parties' emotions
CHAPTER 8 Moving from past to future focus
CHAPTER 9 Dealing with entrenched positions
ConclusionHow do expert mediators mediate?
References
Appendix 1 Mediator Biographies
About the Authors
Index