Why Bilingual Mediation?  I use an interpreter. 

Because Mediation is based on psychological principles of conciliation and cooperation, anyone involved in the process must start from a place of feeling that they can openly communicate and be understood.  As such, it is important to provide the comfort level that can only be achieved when one feels comfortable in their surroundings and feels able to openly communicate and be understood in their own native language.  

The role of the mediator is to facilitate communication.  Mediators work towards balancing power and providing a space for all parties to hear and listen to one another.  In order to do so effectively in cases involving non-English speaking parties, the Mediator must understand the nuance that balancing power is influenced by language, and how the importance of this mediation strategy might affect interpretation.

Many believe that simply using an interpreter accomplishes the same goals and therefore, a bilingual mediator is superfluous or altogether unnecessary.  Not so.  Parties often gain trust and build a relationship with the interpreter or their attorney and not the mediator or, simply because they are speaking through the interpreter.  As a result, many clients end up feeling left out of the process.  Or they fail to build any relationship with the mediator, which in turn can foster a misplaced belief that the mediator is not neutral or fair.

There are additional potential consequences to using interpretation-only, which derive from the type and quality of interpretation utilized.  There are, for example, different classes of interpretation: literal and meaning-based.  In either class, using a literal translation or changing or leaving out key pieces of information in an attempt to “get the meaning across” can have a substantially different result in the way that information is received and processed.   Not only can the legal implications be misunderstood but the Mediator’s ability to neutralize and reframe an issue(s) is lost.

How does the native language of participants and mediators play a role in the success of the mediation?

We’ve seen that in moments of distress/conflict, people sometimes default into their native language.  Some of the reasons for this have to do with levels of acculturation. Further, we recognize that acculturative factors have implications for power in relationships.  As a result, using only an interpreter could provide more barriers to resolution.  So bilingual mediators are essential as they can use their dual-language ability to broker these elements of multicultural communication.   

Why John?

Why not? Kidding aside, in addition to his ability to speak fluent Spanish, John has a broad range of experience on both sides of the civil litigation docket, strong negotiation and dispute resolution skills, and an understanding of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.  This unique skill-set allows John to fairly and effectively evaluate cases and serves to overcome the linguistic and cultural barriers, addressed above, that often get in the way of effective mediation and successful resolution of a case.