"Why do you want to settle this dispute?"

Disputes often create ever more detail and peripheral issues as the parties (or lawyers) delve deeper into the rights and wrongs, applicable law and likely risks. What mediation can do is to help the decision-makers drag themselves out of the detail and into the big picture.

But the question “why are we here?” (usual answer: to resolve this dispute) is not the one that really needs to be asked. “Why do you want to resolve this dispute?” is a more important question. What are the real needs and drivers of each of the disputing parties? If parties (and their lawyers) come to mediation understanding what it is that is really driving them and being prepared to share that with the mediator, then solutions will quickly emerge.