By the same token, what drawbacks are often encountered? We might all have a bit of technophobia when we meet new or unfamiliar technology, and while the pandemic has done much to familiarise us with virtual communications, even using a familiar technology in a new way and in the company of strangers can feel challenging. Mediators can help overcome these fears by introducing participants to the use of the technology platform in the same way as we introduce participants to the process of mediation. During mediations we need to be conscious that too much screentime can be tiring and a good discipline is to take short breaks every hour or two. Then there is that unquantifiable factor: body language, and what we make of physical behaviour, expressions and mannerisms that communicate nonverbally but which we often instinctively use as carrying meaning. Arguably, with a visual platform we still retain some physical communication, and as we become more accustomed to Teams or Zoom for meetings and Skype, FaceTime and Google Duo for video calls, we are intuitively familiarising ourselves with nonverbal signals online. Can a ‘blended’ onlineoffline approach mitigate these drawbacks? It is interesting that, even in conventional mediations, we might use telephone or email at the introductory stage – and possibly a conference call for pre-mediation meetings, more emails to develop the plans and confirm agreements, an on-location meeting for the substantive discussions and negotiations, and then there may be more telephone and email contact to finalise the settlement. It seems we are already used to a blended way of working, so it is simply a natural development of the way we work to think about where video communication works best. For example, if the parties are hesitant to commit to online for the main mediation meeting, they might start by meeting the mediator online for the pre-mediation meeting(s). This gives participants an opportunity to get a feel for remote working and the mediator can fit in a taster/familiarisation session about how the online platform would be used in the main mediation meeting. How would you advise parties and counsel to make the most of these widely available technologies as part of the mediation process? A strength of mediation is its flexibility, and a mediator skill is tailoring the process and resources to suit the occasion and the parties. Virtual mediation may have been the only show in town for the best part of two years, 52 LAWYERMONTHLYDECEMBER 2022 While most people have the technology, we do not take for granted that they have used all the functions we use in a mediation.
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