For me, success means guiding parties toward resolutions that minimize regret and leave them feeling confident about their decisions. Every so often, I’m fortunate enough to receive a heartfelt thank-you. Here’s a recent example:

“Just a short word of thanks for assisting us in obtaining closure on the real estate litigation. In all my career-working years I was taught to always reverse read a contract to be sure of its specific points — I neglected to do just that on my own contract when helping my aging mother move down to FL. Sometimes multi-tasking causes mistakes and this was a big one. It wasn’t due to negligence or misdeed, just a mistake on my part not to read the small print before signing. You did a spectacular job in mediating a compromise that is agreeable to both sides. We tried to make my mom’s older years be more enjoyable by moving her close but caused unneeded stress while her health declined over the past year. Now the chapter can finally be brought to closure.

We cannot thank you enough for lifting a steamship anchor off our shoulders so we could move on with our lives. Aaron had a great teacher today show him how it’s done!”

Rod B. Neuman is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court Mediator (also admitted in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida) and offers these observations based upon his experiences mediating cases throughout the State of Florida.