REPORTER'S NOTES

One of the goals of the Uniform Mediation Act is to simplify the law regarding mediation. Another is to make the law uniform among the States. In most instances, the Act will render unnecessary the other hundreds of different privilege statutes among the States, and these can be repealed. In fact, to do otherwise would interfere with the uniformity of the law.

However, the Drafters contemplate the Act as a floor in many aspects, rather than a ceiling, one that provides a uniform starting point for mediation but which respects the diversity in contexts, cultures, and community traditions by permitting states to retain specific features that have been tried and that work well in that state, but which need not necessarily be uniform. For example, as noted after Section 4, those States that provide specially that mediators cannot testify and impose damages from wrongful subpoena may elect to retain such provisions. Similarly, as discussed in the comments to Section 8, States with court rules that have confidentiality provisions barring the disclosure of mediation communications outside the context of proceedings may wish to retain those provisions because they are not inconsistent with the Act.

As discussed in the preface, point 5, the constructive role of certain laws regarding mediation can be performed effectively only if the provisions are uniform across the States. See generally James J. Brudney, Mediation and Some Lessons from the Uniform State Law Experience, 13 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 795 (1998). In this regard, the law may serve to provide not only uniformity of treatment of mediation in certain legal contexts, but can serve to help define what reasonable expectations may be with regard to mediation. The certainty that flows from uniformity of interpretation can serve to promote local, state, and national interests in the expansive use of mediation as an important means of dispute resolution.

While the Drafters recognize that some such variations of the mediation law are inevitable given the diverse nature of mediation, the specific benefits of uniformity should also be emphasized. As discussed in the Prefatory Notes, uniform adoption of the UMA will make the law of mediation more accessible and certain in these key areas. Practitioners and participants will know where to find the law, and they and courts can reasonably anticipate how the statute will be interpreted. Moreover,