There is uncertainty among both mediation practitioners and theoreticians in Anglo-American countries as to the identity, content, and scope of mediation norms and the relationship between them. Mediation practice is under-regulated, and accreditation and licensing of mediators is mostly restricted to court-connected mediation programs or to voluntary grassroots initiatives. Mediation programs and voluntary associations of mediators have developed a large number of codes of conduct for mediators, and from time to time they issue ethical opinions that interpret the codes and offer guidelines for mediators’ behavior. These codes and opinions vary in content. Furthermore, they formally apply only to mediators who are members of these programs and associations. In practice, however, most mediators are not subject to any written code of conduct, and those who are find the codes too abstract, general, and vague to offer them a sound guide on ethical mediation conduct. As a result, many aspects relating to the conduct of mediation are left to mediator choice, but mediators have inadequate guidance on how their discretion ought to be exercised. These issues need to be addressed for the benefit of mediators, mediation participants, mediator organizations, advisory bodies, policymakers, and teachers and students of mediation.

Rather than a textbook on mediation laws, this book is a monograph constructing a general theory of mediators’ ethics that applies to mediators in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other Anglo-American countries that share the definition of mediators’ role suggested in the book. The theory identifies the ethical norms that govern mediators’ conduct, describes their content and meaning, and explains how their meaning has been shaped. It does so by looking at the role of mediators from the perspective of professional ethics.

The professional ethics perspective assumes that holding a professional role comes with responsibilities, and that a theory of professional ethics can offer tools for identifying and interpreting these responsibilities. The main argument of the book is that mediators perform a role that has evolved and been shaped by the conduct, writings, and other public representations of mediation practitioners, mediation theorists, legislatures, and mediator organizations. The role of mediators has a core meaning and definition that mediators in Anglo-American countries share, notwithstanding the variety of mediator styles and types of mediation.