Preparing your approach

Before you attend mediation, see the Practice Note of the Environment Court. These are an online guide to the court’s practice and procedure.

Appendix 2 of the Practice Note sets out the protocol for court-assisted mediation. You should read this early on as it explains your obligations, and how mediation works.

The court registrar arranges the time, date, and venue for the mediation. The date is set according to the availability of the Environment Commissioner, not of the participants.

However, the registrar will provide notice of the mediation so you can make arrangements to attend.

If you can’t attend, and don’t have someone representing your interests, you must:

• send a request in writing to the registrar, to defer (postpone) the mediation
• copy your request to all the other participants.

The Judge and the Commissioner will then decide whether to grant your request. Bear in mind the court’s costs, and the fact that the Commissioner will have other court commitments. Deferring mediation will not be accepted as a method of prolonging proceedings before the court. The court does not encourage it.

List your aims

What would make you feel the mediation was successful? List these objectives: they might offer a range of settlement possibilities.

Identify your needs and concerns

Examine your own position to discover your real concerns, interests and needs. It may help to prioritise these or at least work out what values (rather than positions) you don’t want to compromise.

Identify the other party’s needs and concerns

Think about what the other party’s real concerns, needs, and interests are. Without compromising your fundamental needs, what can you offer to help the other party meet some of their needs?

Gather information

Gather information to help explain your views. Work out whether enough information is available or whether it requires further research. Decide whether you can share your information at a meeting, bearing in mind that all mediation discussions remain confidential.

Alternatively, work out whether you could restrict access to the information in some way (eg, by communicating with trusted individuals, and then reporting the outcome to the meeting).

Expert information

Decide whether some issues require specialist input (eg, engineering, archaeology, ecology). Think about who should gather that information, and how to share (if at all) the costs between the parties.

Presenting information

Explore ways to present your information. These might include site visits, visual representations (photos, diagrams, plans) and verbal records.

Advise the court and the parties of any technical requirements or the need for a site visit.

Update solutions as you go

Start a list of options for an agreement, and add to it as the process unfolds. Aim to avoid being locked into particular solutions at the beginning of mediation.