Ms Goss is a lawyer, arbitrator and chartered mediator practising ADR with the law firm of Cook Duke and Cox in Edmonton, Canada. She teaches ADR at the University of Alberta Law School.
Mediation is a process of dispute resolution focused on effective communication and negotiation.
The mediator acts as a facilitator assisting the disputing parties in communicating and negotiating more effectively, thereby enhancing their ability to reach a settlement. It is not the mediator's role to adjudicate the issues in dispute and indeed the mediator has no authority to do so. Mediation is not a process to force compromise, although compromise is an element of the process. Each party's limitations are respected and a party is only expected to make a shift in its approach to the problem if it becomes convinced that it is reasonable to do so. Mediators generally approach the mediation process in a series of progressive steps which enable the mediator to move the parties effectively through the various stages of a negotiation process.