Much has been written advising of various tips to make mediations work. Let’s address ways folks are making sure their mediations fail! Here are a few:

Mediating too early: Early stage mediation is a very effective method to minimize risk, and control transaction costs. However, for these to succeed, it is necessary for the parties to agree that they will mediate on the information possessed, or to engage in a pre-mediation exchange. Early mediations fail when significant unknown information is brought out, which requires further investigation or formal discovery.

Originally published on Law.com on October 12, 2014.