However, if the parties' relationship is the culmination of a one time incident and your client is more concerned with winning and less concerned with getting along, then an evaluative mediator who can take responsibility for making that hard, yet hopefully fair, recommendation may be preferable. Selecting a Mediator with the Client's Preferred Style. Once you and your client consider these issues and identify the most appropriate mediation style, then you can select a mediator who embraces your client's preferred style. To help your client make the best choice, keep the facilitative versus evaluative style debate in mind when interviewing prospective mediators. In the early days of mediation, it was enough to simply know the general background of the potential mediator.
Parties are now more sophisticated in conducting the interviewing process.
First, ask prospective mediators to describe their mediation style generally. Then ask them specifically if they consider themselves to be facilitative or evaluative mediators. Ask them if they ever think evaluation is appropriate and if so, under what circumstances. In some situations, a third party neutral with an evaluative orientation will be more effective for a particular client's matter. In other cases, a strictly facilitative mediator may be more appropriate.