Throughout the country, legal
dispute mediation
is rapidly growing as a cost-effective and sometimes required
alternative,
or at least a preliminary, to the courtroom settlement of disputes.
Human relations expert Potter (Finding
a Path with
a Heart: How to Go from Burnout to Bliss, Ronin, 1994) has produced a superb
guide to mediating disputes that will
appeal
to many readers, including managers, teachers, parents, and
especially
those directly involved in mediation such as law enforcement agents and
attorneys.
Potter's focus here is to give the
mediator pragmatic,
step-by-step approaches to gathering information, controlling
the
opporsing parties, using active listening and body language, and making
a decision about the dispute.
This excellent
source
can serve as a basic training manual for
those
involved in mediating disputes, and the extensive array of real-life
examples of typical scripts that may play out in such situations
helps further to clarify these ideas.
Developed with business and academic
involvement, Potter's
handbook is highly recommended,
especially
for libraries in communities with dispute-resolution centers.
Reviewer Dale Farris
Groves, Tex.