That’s because online video mediation has taken on a life of its own — and because it’s here to stay. It is a different organism than in-person mediation. It no longer makes sense to evaluate one by the standards of the other. Online mediation needs to be evaluated on its own merits.

We’ve faced technological transitions before — and benefited each time. A phone call is different from an in-person conversation; a TV show is different from a radio show; a movie is different from a play. We cannot say the newer technologies are categorically better or worse than their predecessors. Each has its place, each its own virtues. So it is with online mediation. We must therefore ask a more discerning question: Does online mediation have the virtue of providing us a significant opportunity to do quality mediation?

Well, for starters, online mediation is mediation for the foreseeable future. In many cases, personal attendance requires air travel. That’s not so easy now. And it’s hard to imagine mediating in person with masks, plexiglass shields between us, sitting socially distanced in the corners of conference rooms rather than at the table. Talk about a lack of intimacy. God forbid anyone should cough! We’d all race for the exits. But we wouldn’t get very far very fast, because most downtown buildings will allow us into elevators only one or two at a time.

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