The other big point was the timing of addressing money claims. Each mediation had financial aspects, whether for the purpose of rectification, as compensation or as debt apparently due. In two, parties and their representatives were content to be guided by me as mediator on the timing. As a result, the financial talks were relatively straightforward in so far as that is ever so in cases like these. The point was that, with other issues on their minds (how they felt about the other party, the need to understand past events, exchange of new information, risk analyses, and so on), it was more effective for the parties to address these issues in advance of bargaining about money.
In the other matters, one party in each mediation wished to move early to making an offer. The reasoning was that such an offer would establish whether the other side would be prepared to do a deal or if the gap was too great to bridge. As one negotiator put it to me: “The sooner we make an offer, the sooner we’ll know whether it is worth staying on, or if we can be on the next plane home.”
