Role-play in Mediation Training – Sharon Murray, Legal Director, Gillespie Macandrew LLP

I am sure that I cannot be the only one who suffered from fear of, and some scepticism about, the benefits of role-play in mediation training.  It did not matter whether I was going to be picked to play one of the parties or the mediator, I thought it would be too false and too much to think about with acting a role as well as learning. If pushed, I thought I might be willing to volunteer to be ‘the observer’ as that looked like the easiest role – it isn’t by the way.

Although I have been a Family Law Solicitor for a long time, I am new to mediation. I became an accredited family law mediator in 2021. Role-play features in the core training for family law mediators and also the continuing training necessary to maintain accreditation. I realised that I was going to have to overcome my fear and doubt of role-play if I was going to mediate. Whilst I have not learnt to ‘love’ role-play, my scepticism about it has evaporated.

I thought that it might help others to avoid the fear and doubt I had altogether if I shared some of the benefits that I think that role-play brings to the training and practice of mediation:  

·        It is good to be able to experience the mediation process from the parties’ point of view in a role-play. You are given a short biography for each party and a note of their positions prior to the mediation. You are thrown into the process, much as the parties are.  I found it surprisingly bewildering, stressful and tiring even though I was supposed to know what was going on, whereas the parties might not even have had that insight. These are matters which I now try to address and minimise for the parties in practice.

·        It is good to be able to role-play as mediator. It gives you a controlled environment to try out techniques/questions etc. to see what works and more importantly perhaps, what does not.  It also gives you the experience of dealing with the more difficult or unexpected situations that can happen in mediation. In one of my role-plays as mediator I was given the gift of the party that stormed off and left the room.

·        It is good to be able to watch as the observer. You are able to see and hear what techniques work and (occasionally) what does not. The downside of being the observer is having to give feedback afterwards but it is usually always constructive. It is helpful to see what went well (and what you might have done differently) when standing back from a process that you would usually be involved in and too busy to notice.  For the same reason getting feedback from the observer is very useful as they are not involved in the mediation itself and are able to concentrate on the process and techniques rather than the issue you are mediating about.

In short, much as being “volunteered” for role-play in mediation training is not always a stress-free option, it is overall a valuable training method where the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Sharon Murray

Legal Director, Gillespie Macandrew LLP