Mediation Techniques: Do You Need a Facilitator or an Evaluator?

Leonard Riskin is a renowned law professor and ADR scholar who taught at the University of Missouri during the ‘90s.

During this time, Professor Riskin set out to observe mediations and write about the work of people who call themselves ‘mediators.’

The result is what has been called ‘Riskin’s Grid’ or ‘Riskin’s Grid of Mediation Techniques.’ According to Riskin, there are two continuums where mediators function.

First, he wrote that mediators ranged from being ‘facilitative’ mediators to being ‘evaluative’ mediators.

Second, he said that mediators ranged from defining the problem ‘narrowly’ to defining the problem ‘broadly.’