ABSTRACT
Mediation is increasingly used to resolve complex commercial and construction cases, particularly at the early stage of a dispute, the significance of a well-drafted mediation agreement takes on greater importance. The mediation agreement provides the parties with a real opportunity to both craft the agreement to the particular case and to enhance the prospect of settlement by fashioning a process that lays the groundwork for constructive discussion between those parties and their representatives, and that will be most likely to resolve the dispute. Not all mediations are between two parties. In some circumstances the mediator is faced with a number of parties, each having an interest in the outcome of the mediation and the underlying dispute. The most common of these is three-party mediation. The situation here is one which occurs when one party brings an action or commences proceedings against another and then, through a counterclaim or other proceeding, a third party is brought into the dispute.
