Michael Moffitt, Associate Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and Indisputably.org blogger recently posted his thoughts about the difference between the Mediation Ethics we are taught and the Mediation Ethics we Need here. 

The full post is well worth reading.  Most applicable to my own practial ethics needs, however, is the following post excerpt.

None of the existing or proposed ethical codes, he writes,  

address the relatively common and always difficult situations in which more than one ethical principle is implicated, and in which no course of action perfectly protects all of the mediation principles involved.

One party appears to have an imperfect understanding of some aspect of a deal, the other party is credibly indicating an intention to withdraw from the mediation, the conversation up to this point suggests that the issues appearing in the legal complaint are only one component of what’s going on and what each party cares about, the case is proceeding under brutal external time constraints, the media are making regular requests for updates, and the mediator isn’t sure what the best next steps might be.

That’s not just an ethical question, but there are ethical questions embedded in there. And nothing in most articulations of mediation ethical standards even acknowledges, much less guides, the balancing I must do.

Amen, brother and thanks for joining the conversation about ethics.