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. Â 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! [↩]
