Have a plan

It’s remarkable how often parties come to mediation without any strategy for the inevitable negotiation. Even when the defendant knows it will need to make the opening offer, it can transpire that there is no plan and no work has been done to prepare an offer, let alone one with a clear and cogent rationale. Working it out on the day at the mediation means unnecessary delay and probably a good deal of irritation for the claimant after two or three hours have passed seemingly without any action.

So, ensure that you have a pre-mediation meeting of the whole team when the strategy is formulated and the opening offer is calibrated and rationalised.