For Common Good

Few expe­ri­ences are so sat­is­fy­ing or so prof­itable as set­tling dif­fer­ences quick­ly, inex­pen­sive­ly, and to mutu­al ben­e­fit. Mag­ic offers rec­on­cil­i­a­tion and medi­a­tion ser­vices based upon decades of expe­ri­ence assist­ing thou­sands of peo­ple to resolve con­flict for mutu­al benefit.

What Are My Alternatives?

Peo­ple respond to con­flict in many ways. Some try to ignore it. Oth­ers nego­ti­ate, with or with­out out­side assis­tance. Some wage psy­cho­log­i­cal bat­tles, or resort to harass­ment or phys­i­cal vio­lence. Oth­ers sub­mit to non-bind­ing or bind­ing arbi­tra­tion, or file civ­il or crim­i­nal complaints.

What Is Mediation?

Medi­a­tion is a vol­un­tary process in which a neu­tral person—the mediator—assists peo­ple in resolv­ing conflict.

A skilled medi­a­tor enables dis­putants to see their own and each oth­er’s inter­ests more clear­ly, and to dis­cov­er solu­tions which are advan­ta­geous to all. Unlike arbi­tra­tors or judges—both of whom decide outcomes—a medi­a­tor assists par­ties in set­tling mat­ters themselves.

Why Choose Mediation?

Medi­a­tion has advan­tages over oth­er approach­es. More than 80% of medi­at­ed dis­putes end in agree­ment. Terms of these agree­ments are more often ful­filled than are those of set­tle­ments imposed by a court. Medi­a­tion is faster and less expen­sive than lit­i­ga­tion, and it is con­fi­den­tial, so your dis­pute stays out of court records.

You retain flex­i­bil­i­ty to cre­ate solu­tions that suit your cir­cum­stances. You also have oppor­tu­ni­ty to estab­lish or repair rela­tion­ships with oth­er parties.

You gain skill and con­fi­dence in resolv­ing dis­putes. You lessen the stress which comes with being in con­flict or hav­ing some­one else impos­ing a judg­ment on you. Final­ly, you pre­serve your options to arbi­trate or to sue if you reach an impasse.

Preparation

Please come pre­pared to present your views. Bring any sup­port­ing doc­u­ments or oth­er mate­r­i­al which may be use­ful in clar­i­fy­ing the sit­u­a­tion. In cas­es where stakes are high or issues are com­plex, Mag­ic may require clients to retain legal, tax, or oth­er expert counsel.

Fees

Fees are paid in advance for an eight-hour day. Any amount unused, less our four-hour min­i­mum, is refund­ed. The major­i­ty of medi­a­tions are con­clud­ed with­in a sin­gle day. Mag­ic is a pub­lic ben­e­fit cor­po­ra­tion which waives or adjusts its fees as pub­lic inter­est warrants.

Personnel

David Schrom is Mag­ic’s prin­ci­pal medi­a­tor. He grad­u­at­ed from Yale Law School in 1971. Since found­ing Mag­ic in 1979 he has facil­i­tat­ed res­o­lu­tion of hun­dreds of fam­i­ly, neigh­bor­hood, and com­mer­cial dis­putes, includ­ing com­plex and bit­ter mul­ti-par­ty con­flicts among peo­ple of diverse cul­tur­al and socio-eco­nom­ic backgrounds.

David has taught about genet­ic and cul­tur­al bases for aggres­sion and altru­ism, and about coop­er­a­tive con­flict res­o­lu­tion at Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty, at Bay Area schools, and in busi­ness and com­mu­ni­ty settings.