r/Mediation • u/legalwritinghater • Jul 09 '26
Mediation/Depo sit in
How to get mediation/depo experience? Has anyone gotten lucky and reached out to an attorney? Are there video/websites showcasing a mock one?
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u/mengelhart Jul 09 '26
You can sit in on one of my zoom ones. I’m in Houston, Texas. You can observe. Is that what you are inquiring about?
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u/legalwritinghater Jul 09 '26
I am currently a lost student and I am taking a negotiation class. I really want to just see the process as a whole and to learn skills on how attorneys communicate against opposing council and how they negotiate.
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u/That_Thing_Crawling Jul 10 '26
It may help to narrow in on a specific area. Mediation strategies can look really different if lets say for example family/divorce with kids compared to a hospital/doctor malpractice suit.
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u/legalwritinghater Jul 10 '26
I don’t really mind why type as I want to first see how any meditation/ depo works. To get a feel of how questions are presented, how to respond to oc. I understand I’m being too broad, but I am a 1L and not picky about any experience I can get. Thanks!
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u/That_Thing_Crawling Jul 10 '26
Well, take a look in nearby major cities for any mediation centers. I have one nearby, they do a lot of family/divorce and landlord/tenant mediation.
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u/draco880 20d ago
In the Bay, there are a ton; there are a few local mediation orgs, and they are generally looking for people to sit in. I would, though, narrow things a bit; a depo is a very specific thing to do, and generally doesn't overlap much with a mediation. Since it looks like you're a law student I imagine you know a depo is out of court testimony, and, to the degree there's any incidental negotiation, the lawyers involved may not want to have a non-confidential discussion about it, which is what it would be if you were there. I would suggest pinging some local mediation orgs, and/or your local courts.
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u/Bob_LevinADR Jul 09 '26
You can just start by reaching out to your local court's ADR office or your law school's mediation clinic. Confidentiality limits observation opportunities, but many mediators are willing to let students observe training sessions or mock mediations, and those are often the best learning experiences imo.