Show Me the Money!
{4 minutes to read} After Covid shut down most courts in March 2020, it became clear that mediation could be an essential means to move cases along. The number of court-based mediation programs started to expand, with enormously positive results. This in turn has expanded the use of mediation as a routine part of the litigation process. It has also raised a long-simmering issue about paying mediators for their work.
The history of mediation goes back many years. Its first major use in New York was largely through what are called Community Dispute Resolution Centers (CDRC’s), which, as the name implies, handled community disputes. These were often the types of disputes that arose between neighbors. Excessive noise, some kind of trespass, an argument that was persistent and maybe about to get out of hand, or even did get out of hand, meaning the police had been called. Indeed, the police were often the conduit for cases going to a CDRC, since they realized the conflict was more civil rather than criminal.