Alternative Dispute Resolution
Feb. 6, 2010
Confidentiality: Is It or Isn't It?
While confidentiality is said to be the backbone of mediation, there is no guarantee of such confidentiality.
A. Marco Turk
Emeritus Professor, CSU Dominguez Hills
Email: amarcoturk.commentary@gmail.com
A. Marco Turk is a contributing writer, professor emeritus and former director of the Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding program at CSU Dominguez Hills, and currently adjunct professor of law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law.
The bedrock of mediation is confidentiality. That is what mediators are continually assuring parties will be zealously guarded no matter what. However, in actuality, there is no such thing as absolute confidentiality in this alternative dispute resolution process. And this is something that rarely, if ever, is conveyed and fully explained to the parties who are under a different impression. With the full information, many parties may not be willing to use mediation and, if anything, might ...
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