Bazaliza Mediation A service of Bazaliza Lawyers
Arrange a mediation

For the profession

The decision maker at mediation is not a judge. It is your client’s former partner.

Which means the things that persuade at a hearing are not the things that persuade in the room. Most mediations that fail, fail because they were run as a hearing with worse catering.

Referrals accepted from solicitors and barristers across NSW. We do not act for either party afterwards, in any capacity.

The practical detail

What you need to know to refer.

The things a referring practitioner actually asks before picking up the phone.

2–3 wk
Typical time to convene, including both pre-meetings
Fixed
Fee quoted in advance, inclusive of reading and rooms
EN / PT
Mediation conducted in either language, or bilingually
60I
Registered FDR practitioner — certificates issued

How we run it

Seven things you can rely on.

Written for practitioners who have sat through a badly run mediation and would rather not do it again.

  1. 01

    Separate pre-meetings, always

    An hour with each party before the joint session, and we would rather not take the booking than skip it. It is where suitability is assessed, where expectations get adjusted, and where a party who has been anchored to an unreachable number by somebody else hears a frank view of the likely range.

    Your client is welcome to have you present at theirs. Many practitioners find it the most useful hour of the engagement.

  2. 02

    Interests before positions, structurally

    Issues identified, then options generated, then negotiation — in that order. Opening with offers produces a distributive haggle that converges on splitting the difference or on nothing, and it is the single most common way a day is wasted.

    We will hold that sequence even when both parties arrive wanting to open with numbers. That is what you are retaining a mediator to do.

  3. 03

    Your client is advised by you, not by us

    The practitioner is neutral and does not advise either party. Observations in a pre-meeting about the likely range of a court outcome inform the negotiation; they are not advice and are not a substitute for yours.

    We will not comment on the merits of your advice to your client, and we will not be drawn into evaluating it in the joint session unless both parties expressly ask for an evaluative intervention.

  4. 04

    Disclosure first, for financial matters

    We will ask whether disclosure is complete before confirming a property mediation, and we would rather move the date than run a day on an incomplete pool.

    Where a valuation is in dispute, say so at intake. A valuer joining for twenty minutes by video is cheap; discovering the gap at 2pm is not.

  5. 05

    Shuttle is available as standard

    Two rooms, staggered arrival and departure, and the parties need never meet. Where there has been violence, intimidation or a serious power imbalance this is the default, not an upgrade.

    Fully online and hybrid sessions are also available — useful where a party has relocated interstate or overseas, or where counsel is appearing remotely.

  6. 06

    Documented on the day

    Heads of agreement signed before anyone leaves, wherever the matter allows it. An agreement that everyone intends to document next week is an agreement with a weekend in the middle of it.

    From there, consent orders or a binding financial agreement — drafted by you, or by us if the parties prefer, with independent advice where the instrument requires it.

  7. 07

    Cross-border matters

    Duarte is dual-qualified — admitted in Portugal and in NSW — and a Notary Public in Australia. Where the pool includes Portuguese or EU assets, or a party is more comfortable in Portuguese, that is handled inside the mediation rather than referred out.

    Practically, it means the settlement is tested for whether it can actually be implemented in the other jurisdiction before it is signed, and the notarial work that follows does not need a third party.

Preparing your client

Five things that change the result.

You will know all of this. It is here because clients ask where it came from, and it is easier to send them a link.

  • Work out the alternative

    Before the day

    A client who has not genuinely costed and timed the litigation alternative cannot evaluate an offer against it. They will either reject something better than they can achieve, or accept something worse.

  • Bring authority

    Or bring the person

    The most frustrating adjournment is the one where a decision needs a parent, a new partner or a financier who is not contactable. Identify that in the pre-meeting.

  • Let the process run

    Resist the shortcut

    Pressure to skip to offers before options are on the table is usually well-meant and almost always costs the day. The slow part at the start is what makes the fast part at the end possible.

  • Prepare for a long day

    Seven hours

    Settlements cluster late. A client who has been told it will take two hours is a client who starts conceding at four o'clock for reasons unrelated to the merits.

  • Partial is still a result

    Narrow the issues

    Six issues reduced to two makes any subsequent hearing shorter and cheaper, and the certificate issues either way. Frame it that way beforehand and nobody leaves feeling the day failed.

  • Send them the guides

    Free, no sign-up

    The preparation and parenting guides on this site are written for parties, not practitioners. Clients who read them arrive materially easier to help.

Refer a matter, or check a date.

Call direct on (02) 8542 5837, or see current availability. We will confirm suitability, fee and convening time before you go back to your client.

Arrange a mediation Or call (02) 8542 5837
Current availability