With the advent of Covid 19 the manner in which mediations are held has switched from mostly in person to mostly online. After the shut down in 2020 many people became comfortable using video-conferencing applications, like Zoom, as part of working remotely. It turns out Zoom is an ideal platform for mediations.
Traditionally, mediations required a conference room and a waiting room so parties could work with a mediator both together and one-on-one. People typically attended mediation in person and had to sit together in the same room with the opposing party and their attorney. Zoom allows this similar dynamic but also allows the mediator to place participants in a waiting room so they are not always together. Given the power dynamics involved in many mediations the ability to work with parties individually while keeping parties separate can be helpful. In other mediations working together is fine but the parties or mediator can best choose for themselves using Zoom.
Zoom's break out rooms allow multiple parties to be together in one room while still separated from others. This means you can wait together with your attorney in a break out room while the mediator addresses the other parties privately.
Zoom allows parties and their attorneys to participate from the convenience of their own homes and offices and the mediator can be based from any location. This means I can serve the areas of Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, Durango, Grand Junction, and Colorado Springs from the convenience of one single location. At the same time, your proximity to your attorney or the other parties really doesn't come into play since we are all present online.
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