This past Friday, I spoke at the 2015 Texas State Bar Atlernative Dispute Resolution Seminar in Austin, with former Chief Justice of the Fifth Court of Appeals, Linda Thomas on the topic of early case mediation.
There are a lot of benefits to early case resolution including saving valuable time and resources that would otherwise be used to litigate the dispute. Moreover, early case mediation often allows the parties to resolve their dispute before their positions become entrenched.

One of the primary foundations for most resolutions is going to be based on an analysis of what most likely will happen if a deal doesn't get done. However, in order for early case mediation to be fruitful, the parties must have enough information so that they can properly evaluate the case.

Mediators can often add value in pre-mediation conferences by identifying factual information and points of law that the parties should attempt to address prior to mediation in order to give the parties the best opportunity to reach an acceptable settlement.

Likewise, when a factual or legal matter presents itself during mediation as an impediment to evaluation and settlement, the mediator can help the parties come up with a plan to obtain the necessary information, and reconvene mediation after the parties are in a better position to evaluate their case for settlement.

Even in those cases where the parties are unable to resolve their dispute at mediation, a good mediator can help the parties evaluate and identify the weaknesses in their respective cases that will need to be addressed in the future as the matter progresses through the litigation process.