Mediation is a voluntary process that involves all parties to a case sitting down with a neutral individual (the mediator) to see if they can discuss their issues and settle their case with the mediator’s help.

Mediation is not counseling. The mediator does not give legal advice, and the mediator does not decide the case. The goal of mediation is to reach a binding, enforceable written agreement that settles the dispute without going to Court.

Frank West Morrison is a Virginia Supreme Court Certified Mediator and offers that service in conjunction with his family law practice. Mr. Morrison’s certification is as an Advanced Family Mediator. Mr. Morrison has been mediating disputes for over twenty years and teaches negotiation and mediation at Washington & Lee Law School. He received a Founder of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Virginia Award in June, 2004. Mr. Morrison has been mediating for ten years and has served as a trainer and lecturer on the subject locally and regionally.

Mr. Morrison provides mediation services to clients who are and who are not represented by attorneys. For those mediation clients who are represented by attorneys, mediation may occur with or without the attorneys present, depending on the preferences of the parties or the complexity of the case. In any case, the parties are encouraged to have counsel advise them during the course of mediation since the mediator cannot provide any legal advice, and to have any agreement that is reached reviewed by counsel before signing.

Mr. Morrison’s style of mediation is primarily facilitative in that he helps the parties speak for themselves and rely on their own experience in an effort to resolve their legal issues, however he is trained to use more evaluative techniques should the parties agree that such techniques would be helpful to them. The evaluative techniques are more commonly used when both parties to the mediation have attorneys present during the mediation sessions.