Our partnership with local solicitors is very important to us. We see the relationship between mediators and solicitors as highly beneficial to our clients, as each professional has an important but complementary role to play.
It is usually beneficial to suspend solicitor-led negotiations while you are in mediation, to give you and your ex-partner chance to reach your own agreement through direct dialogue. However, mediators cannot provide legal advice so it is important you have access to legal advice while you are in mediation or when you are ready to make your mediated agreements legally binding. If you want, you can proceed with mediation in advance of a court hearing, as courts prefer families to agree their own arrangements. You can ask a court to make a Child Arrangement Order by consent, based on agreements reached in mediation.
Any solicitor who refers to us does not have any advantage or influence over your mediation, and we have a number of safeguards in place to back this up.
You may also be aware that it is common for some professionals to work as solicitors in some organisations and mediators in others. Very occasionally, you or your ex-partner may be referred by a solicitor who also works as a sessional mediator by MiD, or is otherwise professionally known to MiD or the mediator. The solicitor concerned will point this out to you and, if your mediator is aware of this relationship, they may give you additional information about the safeguards and make a note they have done so in your session summary. The solicitor of one client would not be allowed to run the mediation sessions between that client and their ex-partner.
If the solicitor is also a mediator at MiD we ensure total confidentiality. There are a number of safeguards in place to ensure there is no information sharing between mediators within the service in these situations.
If you would like more details about our relationship with solicitors please email director@midmediation.org.uk and ask for a copy of our full Policy for working with solicitors.
The following lawyers are Patrons of MiD and work within our local area. We are unable to recommend any particular firm but if your solicitor has recommended that you come to us, we hope this reflects our reputation for carrying out work to the highest standard.
