Baltimore Mediation takes a relational approach to conflict, disputes, and difficult situations by convening participants and helping prepare them for quality interaction and face-to-face dialogue so they can interact and negotiate on more authentic terms with the support and presence of a third party neutral. The firm was the first transformative mediation ADR firm in the U.S. Baltimore Mediation’s philosophy is that people have the capacity to change the quality of their difficult or stagnated or harmful interactions with the assistance of a third party neutral who believes in their capacity to be neither a victim nor a victimizer. Problem solving, decision making and terms of agreement on authentic terms are natural by products of this approach. It’s a relational approach pioneered by founder Louise Phipps Senft. Baltimore Mediation mediators, whether working with two people or a large group of people, focus on the quality of the interaction. They believe that clarity can emerge from chaos and shifts can happen in rigidity when opportunities for such transformation are the focus of the mediator neutral. For almost 30 years, Baltimore Mediation had been a beacon of transformative mediation and relational practices nationwide for families, business partners and large institutions facing crisis or change. Lead by founder Louise Phipps Senft, Baltimore Mediation is one of the most successful mediation firms in the U.S. and one of the largest and most influential mediation training programs in the U.S. Baltimore Mediation specializes their practice on divorce, family business, trust and estate, employment, large scale commercial disputes, academic departments, boards of directors, medical systems, and corporate executive teams both non profit and for profit to help them navigate through conflict and crisis and through change and complexity. The relational approach allows clients to re-create cohesion, so they can then make informed decisions to move through complexity and conflict and emerge stronger and more resilient.

Mediators at Baltimore Mediation will never tell people what to do, nor will they ever take sides about who is right and who is wrong, nor force compromise nor advocate for any one participant’s ideas over another’s. The firm’s mediators do not attempt to impose control over the agenda or ground rules of meetings and never practice separating people from each other. Baltimore Mediation’s mediators decisively choose against such normative transactional practices which are often performed in the name of getting a settlement over a belief in the participants’ empowerment and ability to make those decisions for themselves. Baltimore Mediation mediators maintain a steadfast belief that the wisdom will emerge from the conflict when the participants engage with the difficulty rather than bypass it. Baltimore Mediation mediators work diligently and surgically to help participants get clear and feel stronger so they can speak and request what they need from each other while also experiencing being more open to hearing other’s perspectives and needs. When people experience a more expansive view of a complicated situation, an experience they were not able to have without the intervention of a relational mediator, the natural byproduct is better understanding and decisions made with greater discernment. This byproduct is usually better for the larger context, whether everyone agrees on everything or not. Baltimore Mediation mediators help create the relational environment so our clients can engage in hard and rewarding dialogue and decision making and emerge stronger and wiser.