How Much Does Mediation Cost?

Conflict with other people is difficult to avoid, on issues ranging from a business's unsatisfactory products or services to property line disagreements with neighbors. Such conflicts can be expensive to resolve in courts of law. Attorneys typically charge hundreds of dollars an hour, and a single civil lawsuit can take years to work its way through the legal system. This is particularly true if the case goes all the way to trial, or if the disappointed side files an appeal.

Could mediation provide a better, cheaper way to resolve your dispute? We'll look into the typical fee structure and "bang for your buck" here.

What Is Mediation?

A mediation is essentially a facilitated negotiation. A third-party neutral mediator, who is trained in conflict resolution methods, sits with (or Zooms with) you and the person you're having the disagreement with and helps you both to talk things through. The mediator does not "take sides" or make a decision, like a judge or an arbitrator. Rather, the mediator works to find the root of the conflict and consider potential options.

While litigation accentuates differences between the parties, mediation works to bring the parties together. Often, disputing parties can emerge from a mediation closer than ever before. This is particularly useful in situations where you will both need to deal with one another repeatedly, often for a long period of time, such as with neighbors.

Fee Structure for Mediation

The costs of mediation work quite differently from the costs of litigation. In litigation, both sides would normally hire their own attorneys. Most attorneys charge by the hour, meaning that the longer the legal dispute takes, the more you pay in fees.

In mediation, it is not required that you and the other party hire separate attorneys. Indeed, it's often more efficient if it's just three of you around the table: you, the other party, and the neutral mediator. Having attorneys sitting beside you or speaking for you in a mediation can inhibit compromise. (After all, attorneys have a natural inclination to promote their own client's rights, sometimes at the expense of reasonable compromise.)

How much does mediation cost? It depends. There are two primary types of mediation services:

1. paid professional mediators and
2. free mediation services offered through nonprofit organizations or court systems.

We will discuss each below. In both cases, virtual mediation is an increasingly available option.

What Free Mediation Nonprofits Offer

Oftentimes, you can locate free (or at least low-cost) mediation services. If you live in a large city, chances are you can find these provided by local courts, bar associations, or not-for-profits. State and local governments actually give funding to such organizations, because judges and legislators would rather see disputes resolved outside of court when possible.

As a result, many of these nonprofits have rosters of mediators (sometimes called "neutrals") who are experienced attorneys or retired judges. Some have backgrounds in community organizing, social work, or psychology.

Examples of organizations that provide free mediation services include the New York Peace Institute in New York, the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago, and the Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution (CMDR) in Boston.

What Law School Mediation Clinics Offer

Law schools are another venue to consider. Some have mediation "clinics," in which law professors and students work together to resolve conflicts for free.

Four particularly well-regarded mediation clinics are:

• Cardozo Law School's Mediation Clinic in New York
• Harvard Law School's Dispute System Design Clinic in Boston
• the University at Buffalo School of Law's Mediation Clinic, and
• Pepperdine Law School's Mediation Clinic in Malibu.

One advantage of contacting a law school's mediation clinic is that it might be willing to give a great deal of time to your case. Part of the goal is to help train students by showing them a real-life legal conflict. As a result, leading law professors with a great deal of conflict-resolution experience could be at your disposal for long sessions. Hiring such a person privately might be prohibitively expensive.

Finding a Paid Mediator If Free Options Aren't Available

Not all cities offer access to free services, unfortunately (though again, you might be able to find an online option).

Sometimes, however, "free" isn't the way to go. Your dispute might be unusually complicated, and some nonprofits are willing to give only a certain number of hours of mediation time for free.

Your dispute might also center on a substantive area of law or fact requiring significant expertise. An example would be a dispute over construction, where your neighbor's contractor is damaging your home in the manner in which he is drilling into the ground. Here, it might be helpful to have a mediator who has legal experience with construction law and is familiar with local statutes on drilling, case law for negligent engineering, and the range of damages available. Such mediators might cost several hundred dollars per hour, depending on your jurisdiction and their level of experience.

So, while you might end up paying a few hundred dollars an hour for a day of the mediator's time, these costs don't seem so bad when compared to the costs of paying a lawyer that same amount over the course of many months. And if even that is difficult to find locally, the highly respected organization known as JAMS offers cost-effective virtual mediation options.

Convincing the Other Party to Pay a Share If Free Services Aren't Available

Suppose you approach the person or business you're having a dispute with, and bring up the idea of going to a paid mediator to resolve it. They agree attend a mediation, but refuse to pay anything. Obviously, this could place a large financial burden on you; remember, mediators will likely charge for the time involved in:

1. reviewing documents ahead of the mediation
2. having conference calls with the parties
3. the session itself, which can take hours or days depending on the complexity, and
4. sometimes preparing a written report after the session.

These hours add up. There is also a sense of unfairness if the other party won't pay; mediation is about both sides participating equally in the process, and there's something to be said for both having "skin in the game."

What should you do? Try subtly reminding the other person of what lawyers refer to as the BATNA—the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. If you're hiring a mediator, chances are the dispute is significant enough that it could go to court. This means that the other party would ultimately need to spend money one way or another, either to hire a mediator now, or to hire a lawyer later on. Remind them that a mediator is often less expensive than a private attorney, and if the dispute can be resolved in just a few hours or days, the expenses would surely be lower than during a protracted court battle.

If they still don't consent to paying the cost of the mediator, you might have no choice but to hire a lawyer. Your lawyer can send a letter to your adversary, which might motivate them to pay a fair share.

If this still does not work, your lawyer can file a complaint (that is, begin litigation). This will essentially force the person to begin spending money hiring an attorney. From that point, the two attorneys might be able to request that the judge order mediation, which judges will sometimes do when they believe that a case can be settled without the time and expense of a trial.