By Suzy Wiesenhart
Mediation is a term that usually scrunches foreheads whenever it is used. Most people have never heard of using mediation as a form of resolving their legal disputes. They have heard the word, but have never witnessed the effectiveness of what it does.
It’s usually defined as a way to resolve disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects. William Robert Keller, with Keller Mediation, said, “The mediation process is private, confidential and imposed by law.” Mediators help participants communicate with each other, consider their dispute from different perspectives and try to come up with a resolution that works for everyone.
Keller emphasizes that cost is one of the three major factors benefitting mediation in today’s world. Having a case go before a judge will cost each individual involved thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. If the individuals chose to have their case mediated, this process will only cost a few hundred dollars.
The next major factor is time. It usually takes close to five months to have a case heard before the court system; however, a case can usually be scheduled for mediation in a few weeks and the entire mediation process rarely takes more than four hours to settle.
The last major factor is that the whole mediation process is private and confidential. A mediation session is like a trip to Las Vegas; what happens in mediation, stays in mediation. If a case goes to trial, that entire dispute will become a public record that anyone can access through a simple search on their computer.
These are only a few benefits of mediation. Keller loves his job, and he’s able to help people in the community with their disputes. He focuses mostly with business, landlord/tenant and credit cards disputes that can be settled outside of the courtroom in a more informal setting. His slogan, “Solving Your Disputes on Your Terms” says it all.
His hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. To contact Keller, call 624-3525 or e-mail Wrkellermediation@gmail.com.
