Settle it on your terms.

What mediation is

Mediation is a confidential, informal process. An impartial mediator helps the people in a dispute talk it through, understand each other's positions, and look for an agreement both can live with.

The mediator runs the session but does not decide the outcome. The parties do. If they reach an agreement, it is put in writing and signed by everyone involved.

Mediation can be voluntary, or a court can order it while a case is pending. Either way, it is often far faster and less expensive than taking a dispute all the way to trial.

How a session works

1. Getting startedSteven talks with the parties or their attorneys, confirms he has no conflict, and schedules the session.
2. OpeningEveryone meets, the ground rules are set, and each side has a chance to explain what matters to them.
3. Working it outSteven meets with the parties together and separately, testing ideas and carrying proposals back and forth.
4. AgreementWhen the parties reach terms, the agreement is written down and signed.

Why Steven

Steven is registered on the Alabama State Court Mediator Roster maintained by the Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution.

He spent three terms as Regional Vice President of the National Treasury Employees Union, where he led labor and management negotiations and dispute resolutions. Before that, he spent more than two decades inside the Social Security Administration's disability hearing process, weighing evidence and helping decide thousands of claims.

He has practiced law since 1996, and he knows how to keep a hard conversation moving toward a result.