According to panelists at the latest American Bankruptcy Institute’s conference in New York, mediation in bankruptcy cases is on the rise.
Increasingly, bankruptcy courts are using mediation to help manage their caseloads and to find solutions to the difficult issues that even the most skilled bankruptcy professionals struggle to resolve. At the same time, debtors are turning to mediation to avoid prolonged and expensive litigation.
Bankruptcy professionals are slowly changing their attitudes toward mediation. Most of them understand the benefits that come with having a mediator at the negotiation table. The mediator’s role is not to decide who is right or wrong. Rather, the mediator facilitates communication between the parties, helps them identify and clarify the issues that need to be resolved, presents options to consider and guides the parties in exploring mutually beneficial solutions for the matter(s) in dispute.
