I recently spoke at the Fall Educational Conference of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association. The topic was how structured settlement brokers can add value to mediation. I described three techniques you can remember using the acronym TAG.

Teddy Snyder

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Brokers are often more fluent in issues such as resources for setting up a special needs trust or compliance with a Medicare set-aside than the mediator or the lawyers. Brokers are certainly the most expert in explaining offers and demands set forth in the form of a structured settlement. The structured settlement broker can translate jargon into simple English that everyone at the mediation can understand.

Align

Brokers are most effective when they align with a mediator’s values and when they recognize and use mediation vocabulary. Those values include confidentiality, which is critical for every mediation. Confidentiality allows participants to be candid without fear that they are giving away too much.

Mediators also value their neutrality. Brokers often portray themselves as neutral as well. Of course, mediators value settlement. They want to help parties reach settlement using every applicable tool, which may include a structured settlement.

Guide

A well-prepared broker may know more about the case than the mediation briefs disclosed. When that happens, the broker may be in a position to guide the mediator to resolve the pivotal issues.

TAG — you’re it

Parties in mediation typically need all the help they can get to reach resolution. Input from a structured settlement broker can help the participants on that journey.

Attorney Teddy Snyder mediates workers' compensation cases throughout California. She can be contacted through snydermediations.com.