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1. Some common differences between multi-party disputes and other types of disputes brought to mediation

   1. Governments often involved

   2. Clients often not directly involved

   3. May be difficult to identify all stakeholders

   4. Implementation of any agreement may be difficult

2. The Mediator's roles

   1. Mediating across the table

   2. Mediating among the parties on one side of the table

   3. Dealing with political actors important to the resolution of the dispute

   4. Helping to ensure implementation of any agreement

   5. Communicating with parties not at the table

3. Recurring Issues

   1. The role of confidentiality.

   2. The role of public participation

   3. If dispute is a legal case, the mediator's role viz a viz the court

   4. The mediator's continuing responsibility post-agreement

4. Two examples

   1. Pigford v. Veneman, the Black Farmers' law suit

      1. Class action filed against the Department of Agriculture for discrimination in its credit programs

      2. Class of approximately 23,000

      3. Consent Decree provided an opportunity for every claimant to demonstrate that they had been discriminated against, but required no structural change at USDA.

   2. The Helen Kramer Landfill

      1. Case brought by the USEPA (and the NJDEP) against approximately 300 parties for violation of CERCLA and the New Jersey Spill Act.

      2. Questions: Who pays what? Natural Resources were damaged, how are they to be fixed? Who does the work to fix things?

      3. Among the parties: private companies, large and small; approximately 20 surrounding municipalities; New Jersey state agencies as plaintiffs and defendants.