difficult job of the mediator to help the parties find the areas in which they are in agreement, as well as finding solutions to disagreements which both parties find equally distasteful.

Divorce cases are probably the most common forum these days for mediation. In divorce mediation the parties each provide relevant information to the mediator and the mediator speaks with the parties either in a group, or individually. Individual discussions in mediation are called a caucus. Domestic mediations are often accomplished in less than five hours of concentrated effort, and mediators bill between $50 and $300 an hour, with the costs equally divided between the parties. Sometimes lawyers are present, other times not, depending on the circumstances. I understand the success rate in divorce mediations is nearly 80 percent. This speaks well for the training of the mediators, and the general good intentions of most divorcing parties, regardless of the depth of the pain involved.

Arbitration is a completely separate process from mediation, although the terms are often incorrectly used interchangeably. In an arbitration, the parties agree to allow a third party to make a determination of the outcome of a dispute, and the parties agree to be bound by the determination before it is made. Arbitration is more formal, with rules of evidence often agreed upon by the parties and strict time tables followed for testimony and rebuttal. Arbitration has been a pet project of the Better Business Bureau which has championed the process for its efficiency. Many standard arbitration processes require both parties to pay $500 to begin the arbitration. Often the $1,000 covers the costs, but complicated circumstances can escalate the costs dramatically.

Arbitration is regularly used in the forum of construction litigation with most construction contracts providing that any disagreements be presented for arbitration. The theory is that an arbitrator will be well versed in the particular nuances of the disagreement (such as the suitability of a particular concrete foundation) and will have additional insight which will allow them to make an efficient and accurate determination of responsibility.

As you can see, court is not always the answer. In fact, by the time many parties reach court, they have forgotten the original question. If you have the opportunity to explore ADR, do not be afraid. For nearly a year and a half, the Magistrate Court had provided trained attorney mediators at no cost to the litigants for all civil and warrant application calendars. Many other courts share my enthusiasm for the concept, and I encourage you to check with the other individual courts regarding their processes.

CASE OF THE MONTH. Rather than one case, I am simply going to pass along my appreciation to each of you who have at some point this year forgiven a debt, forgotten an insult, or paid a little more than absolutely necessary to settle a dispute. Please accept my salute to those parents who have provided a few extra dollars of unrequested support, or a couple of extra weekends of unrequested time, without argument or exchange. Thank you to every boss that has given a little more than expected, and every employee who put in time that never showed up on the clock. Each of you have done something utterly thankless, but you have added threads of civility to the tapestry of our society. Thank you, from all of us. And best wishes for the New Year.

Chief Judge Charles Robertson is the Magistrate Judge of Cherokee County and lives in Towne Lake with his wife and four children. To contact the judge, you can email him at crobertson@superlaw.com. The court's website is www.cccourt.com.

Cherokee County Law School

by Chief Magistrate Judge Charles Robertson

Warm holiday and new year wishes, and welcome to the seventh installment of the Cherokee County Law School. In past articles we have covered the various courts in the county, applications for warrants, dispossessories, ordinances, restraining orders and evictions - all relatively unpleasant topics of discussions. However, in honor of the season, this month we are going to take a look at alternatives to litigation and the title of this month's lesson will be:

"Blessed Are the Peacemakers"

This may come as a surprise, but court is not a happy place and no one is ever really glad to be there (except perhaps attorneys). Even if you win, after factoring in the cost of the delays in payment or justice, the associated costs of attorneys and the value of time, there are very few occasions when court is a good investment. If you lose, court is simply miserable. There are also very few things court administrators and judges can do to improve the situation. The benches, for example are hard and cold, but I think taxpayers would take a dim view of installing Barco-loungers. The surroundings are tedious and institutional, regardless of efforts to liven the areas with student art. And last but not least, to nearly everyone but the directly affected parties and themselves, judges are boring. It is perhaps this dreary nature that has propelled advocates to seek non-judicial alternatives - many of which can be very effective.

Collectively, the processes for solving problems without courts is called "Alternative Dispute Resolution" or "ADR." This category includes lots of possibilities - in fact, everything but traditional lawyers and judges. History is full of examples of conflicts being decided by duels, jousts and witch burnings. I think the processes have become more civilized, and in the last few weeks I have had two brothers arm wrestle for a piece of property, an election decided by coin flip, church committees determine contracts by prayer and UGA football seats judged by a game of checkers. Each of these is a form of ADR.

However unpleasant court may be, rarely are parties willing to leave outcomes completely up to arm wrestling contests, and modern combatants have settled on some relatively standard, albeit less physical, formats for resolving arguments such as arbitration and mediation. There are very few objective rules for any of these processes, and it usually helps for the structure to be as flexible as possible, but customs for each have certainly developed. The professionals engaged in these services are called arbitrators and mediators and they come from all walks of life. Some are attorneys, some are businesspeople, some are housewives, but all bring a tremendous value to the process of settling disputes.

Civilized societies have always used some form of mediation as a tool for resolving conflict. In mediation, a respected neutral (a mediator) speaks with both parties and tries to establish some level of dialog designed to lead to finding common ground. In an informal way, this is the process that many extended families use to solve disagreements between members. In formal mediation, the parties each contribute to the unpleasant process of finding compromise, and then both parties agree to be bound by the terms to which they have committed. It is the