Susan Donovan, discusses Empowering Parties Through Mediation.
Office of Hearings and Appeals
April 21, 2026
Estimated Read Time min
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EMPOWERING PARTIES THROUGH MEDIATION
Join us as our guest speaker, mediator and professor Susan Donovan, discusses Empowering Parties Through Mediation.
The mediation process can meaningfully empower participants, even when there is a perceived imbalance of positional power. We will explore practical strategies ways the mediator may use to support this empowerment. For example, how the mediator “sets the stage,” chooses their style of mediating, reinforces the parties’ self-determination, and gives voice to the parties all impact the process. We will discuss how party empowerment grows from parties experiencing both substantive and procedural fairness throughout the mediation.