The key was that both sides saw delay as harmful to their causes. The participants should be involved in setting up the structure. To the extent possible, and if the budget and time allows, this should be their first experience of reaching an agreement. The precise structure of the mediation will have to be established from the information gathered through the assessment process. A note of caution is in order.
Fiscal considerations are crucial when dealing with publicly funded processes.
While customarily parties share equally in the cost of mediation, some mediation may be paid for through grants or by local government. The considerations outlined below are frequently time consuming. It is however not disputable that the better the preparation and analysis the better prognosis for settlement. Good mediation of complex or multi- party disputes involves more than showing up in a room with a large table, having briefly looked at the file. The full process, done to maximize the chances of settlement, takes time and money, even if that is typically far less than full scale litigation.