I was coming out of the subway the other day by NYC’s City Hall, and found myself in the middle of a demonstration. A bunch of young people, all dressed in pea coats and fisherman’s knit scarves and hats held were chanting, “Don’t go to court – mediate!” and “Mediate – don’t litigate!” I was quickly given a handbill for the new TV series, Fairly Legal, which premiered last night. The “demonstrators” were actually paid by a marketing firm… While it seemed disingenuous, it was still fun, and they certainly were espousing something I believe in!
Meanwhile, the mediation community is all atwitter (pardon the pun) about the show. This is, after all, a huge boost of publicity to our profession!
But is it accurate? Well, no. But are House or ER accurate portrayals of the medical profession? I hope not. Were LA Law or Law and Order or the myriad other legal shows accurate portrayals of the legal profession? Negatory.
But hopefully this will pique some interest — and openness — to mediation as a way of addressing conflict solving problems. And hopefully it will open up the dialog…