Describe the role of the paralegal in support of arbitration. ...

[darbym82]

Describe the role of the paralegal in support of arbitration.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Describe at least six ways in which family law mediation differs from other types of mediation.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[flannelavenger]

Answer to Question 1

A paralegal will assist in the preparation of demands, submissions, gathering and assembling
documents and other discovery, coordinating transmission of documents to the other side,
evaluating and summarizing documents and items received from the other party, preparing
subpoenas, keeping track of schedules, preparing hearing exhibits, and other similar tasks.
The paralegal should be aware of the rules to be used in the arbitration. He or she will be
responsible for coordinating administrative matters with the arbitration sponsor and
attending administrative hearings on behalf of the client. The paralegal may also assist in
briefing witnesses and will likely attend the hearing to provide support. A paralegal can also
present some or all of the case, because an arbitration is not a legal proceeding. Paralegals
can hold themselves out as advocates in arbitration and represent clients. They can also serve
as arbitrators, especially when they have expertise in the subject matter of the dispute.

Answer to Question 2

 Mediation in the family law context has therapeutic dimensions and helps clients deal
with their emotions in order to move toward agreement.
 Family mediation is often not attended by attorneys for the parties, and sometimes such
attendance is actually prohibited by law. This raises issues of fairness, especially when
there is already an imbalance of power between the spouses.
 Parties are often not well informed about their legal rights, especially if they are acting
pro se, which is increasingly the case in family disputes, often putting the mediator in the
role of explaining the law.
 Because most mediated family law settlements are entered as the judgment of a court,
family law mediators must be sensitive to the trading of property rights for child custody
concessions, in that judges are reluctant to accept custody terms that have been bought..
 Family law mediation is often highly time sensitive and urgent where the well being of
children is involved and/or the parties cannot afford a trial.
 Party representatives in family law disputes are likely to keep a lower profile than
normal during joint sessions due to the hostility that the other party is naturally going to
feel for his or her spouse's advocate.
 Because family law disputes are almost always highly charged with emotion, mediation is
often characterized by displays of emotion and must provide an outlet for these feelings
in order to reach a resolution.
 Divorcing parties are likely to be sensitive to the gender of the mediator, which often
means that a male-female team will mediate divorce disputes.

[darbym82]

Thanks

[flannelavenger]

Welcome