Family and divorce mediation is a legal matter. Not having a law degree should be automatically disqualifying.

Be sure your divorce mediator has a law degree. No exceptions.

Not having a law degree should be an automatic disqualifier when task is to mediate something as important and consequential as a family law dispute. It's unreasonable to consider trying to lead that discussion without the three years of law school and thousands of hours of instruction and study that went into that degree.

Your divorce is probably the most important legal matter you’ll ever be involved in. Your mediator should not be “winging it.” Just as no one is allowed to practice medicine without a medical degree, no one should be allowed to practice mediation without a law degree.

Until the law is changed to protect the public from underqualified mediators, mediation clients will have to do their own due diligence.

A law degree is crucial, not merely helpful, in divorce mediation

In the Portland metro area, there are at least three people who are practicing family law mediation without a law degree. Is this legal? Unfortunately, yes. Is it reckless? Yes.

At best, trying to lead the discussion of a legal issues without a law degree -- particularly about something as sensitive and consequential as divorce --is irresponsible. At worst, it is dangerous. Either way, it is unfair to clients and will result in a substandard mediation process with much done poorly -- or left out altogther.

Case in point: A person who practices in Portland without a law degree posted over 15 legal questions and attempted to provide answers. Only four were fully accurate. The rest contained false, misleading, or confusing information. The incorrect information will remain online until the person takes it down. Until then, it will misinform or mislead most people who read it.

This problem exists right here in Portland

Conflict resolution skills alone are not enough

You can be virtually certain that someone who is attempting to mediate a divorce without a law degree is working with materials prepared by someone with a law degree.

The problem is that not everything can be reduced to a checklist or even a reference book. There will always be more law or more legal analysis that didn't make it into the final draft of the materials but still resides within the author's mind.

One of three things will happen next:

1. The mediator will do more research to compensate for what she or he did not know. That will delay the completion of the case, even if the client is not charged extra for that time.
   

2. The mediator will confer with an attorney, again either delaying the process, incurring more cost, or both.
   

3. The mediator will present only the limited information that he or she has, which could result in a client not having the proper options from which to choose as the client makes important decisions with long-lasting and far-reaching impact.

Cutting corners doesn't cut it

Keeping two people calm, without more, does not resolve legal issues, nor is it a service worth paying $250 to $300 per hour to obtain. A divorce mediator also needs substantive knowledge of family law, fluency in the language of divorce finance, and an exhaustive list of parenting plan components.

There are dozens – maybe more than 100 – big and small decisions that my clients make with ease. Those decisions are made smoothly because my legal training has enabled me to know what to ask to broaden and deepen the agreement to make it work more effectively for clients without taking much more of their time.

I will present your options for resolving each issue in your divorce and can craft creative solutions to meet your needs and usually can accommodate your preferences. My training in the law allows him to understand, research, analyze, and write for you to an extent that would be impossible without having committed myself to three years of law school.

The coursework for my J.D. degree also included other aspects of the law that may not seem directly related to divorce -- such as Torts and Criminal Law. That knowledge has sometimes provided me with opportunities to share information with clients who may be considering unwise actions that could lead to unintended and undesirable consequences.

Advantages of a divorce mediator with a law degree

Your Marital Settlement Agreement will be more detailed and precise when you have a law-trained mediator drafting it. Life is not a template. Life is customized to every person, and your MSA must be as well. If your mediator does not have a law degree, he or she did not write the bulk of your MSA. Someone with a law degree did, either for your case or as a template that the mediator used or will use.

Like the Apple App Store ad campaign years ago, where the slogan was “Yep, there’s an app for that,” you can include virtually anything important to you in your MSA if your mediator knows how to draft it. However, if your mediator does not have the expertise to draft legal verbiage, there is no room for adaptation, innovation, and creativity. Life doesn't operate within a template, and neither should your mediation.

Please decide to make a law degree a non-negotiable criterion for your divorce mediator to have. I would be pleased to serve in that role for you. Please contact me to schedule a consultation so that I can learn more about your needs and how I can help you.

There's a clause for that ... at least there should be

If your mediator lacks a degree in the specific field that you need to navigate, the scope of the options available to you will likely be limited as well. Worse yet, the written agreement that emerges from that process will likely be inadequate as well.

The first choice you will make in your divorce mediation process is also the most important -- the choice of a mediator. There is no substitute for legal education to help you with such an important legal matter.

Legal training makes all the difference