Currently there is no state regulation of mediation and no requirement for training. However, you might find that you could enrich your mediation craft by taking some training as it is very different than traditional law school education and continuing legal education seminars. You would be required to role-play in simulated settings and participate in other active training that is a far cry from a panel of experts giving lectures. While there is certainly a demand for lawyer-mediators with substantive knowledge and law practice experience, there are other effective styles of mediation being used. Also there are significant differences in the settlement process between court mandatory settlement conferences and mediation.
Many jurisdictions now have mandatory mediation on both parenting and economic issues.
In litigation horror stories, lawyers are often the victims because of lost stomach lining, unsatisfied clients, and unpaid receivables. A major, but less known function of mediators is to provide consensual case management that can put some structure onto such runaway chaos and still give lawyers the freedom of traditional advocacy that judicial case management can take away. Some mediators may overcharge and others may not produce a process or a result that is worth the expenditure of scarce client resources. However, even with the use of a mediator and independent consulting attorneys, the cost of a mediated divorce is not higher, and may actually be far lower than a case directly negotiated between two lawyers. It is certainly lower than litigated divorces.