Well that was unexpected…
Sorry for not posting yesterday y’all, I actually fell asleep accidentally while reading for today’s classes1 
The upside is that I was awake hours ahead of when I needed to leave for the Courthouse and my first day observing cases in mediation. I got through observing 1… then ended up having to actually mediate myself 
Yep, you read that correctly 
The dispute was between two middle-aged women who had gotten into an altercation at work, and when the regular mediator and I first started talking to the parties it seemed like the case wasn’t the type that we could resolve through mediation. The complainant said she was determined to have the criminal charges against the defendant heard in court and wouldn’t dismiss the case (which of course happens when a negotiated settlement takes place).
For reasons unknown to me, the complaining witness in the case didn’t like the regular mediator — at all. I noticed about 2 minutes into the mediation session that she started directing all of her comments and questions to me, even when I made it clear I was just a not-quite-2L who didn’t know the answers to many of her questions. About 15 minutes in (when we’ve essentially been conducting a mediation) she formally agrees to mediation, the mediator notices she doesn’t like him a couple minutes after that, then looks at me and says “You’ve got the training. Have at it.”
The sudden and unexpected pressure of having to perform for srs was intense. I really wanted to 
and apparently my face went pale for a couple minutes before I snapped out of it.
But about 2ish loooooong hours later, we had an agreement in the case that both parties liked so it was officially a success! 
Not sure I could replicate that with many other cases but it’s good to start on a high note. We’ll see what the rest of the Clinic work holds this summer.
Heading to bed so I can sleep in tomorrow morning Have a great night y’all!
- Which reminds me at some point I need to write an entry for TDot’s Tips #6: sleep! [↩]
YAY!
That’s so awesome! We had a brief unit on alternative dispute resolution in our Legal Practice class last semester and I really enjoyed it, to the point that I’m considering doing the 40-hour training to become certified in mediation. Maybe. Glad to hear you had a great real-life experience with it! Congrats!
good for you sir!
Thanks everybody
@Ninja: I’d definitely recommend it
Just be forewarned that 40 hours is loooooong 
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