Principles of mediation

Mediation is generally regarded as being part of a family of processes called 'alternative dispute resolution'(ADR)whose central philosophy is to empower people to resolve disputes themselves without having to rely on the courts to adjudicate by applying legal principles. In this respect the first important difference between litigation and ADR is that in litigation a dispute is adjudicated by applying the prevailing law to the facts whereas in ADR parties negotiate an outcome to the dispute by consensus without applying the law.