JUSTICE IN MEDIATION
March 12, 2004

"Swimming in the Deep End: Mediators' Engagement with Justice"

Professor Carrie J. Menkel-Meadow
Georgetown University Law Center

Despite a prevailing perception that a mediator's only role is to ensure that the process of mediation is fair, mediators cannot help but become enmeshed in substantive justice, including the fairness of the terms of the conflict and possible resolutions. Mediators additionally participate in the selection of many structural and substantive issues within the mediation which necessarily involve concepts of justice. In order to enhance mediation, mediators should understand how justice can exist in that context, and strive to help parties reach a more just resolution.

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