by Katherine E. Stoner, Attorney-Mediator

You can mediate whether or not you have your own lawyer, but here's how consulting a legal adviser can help you.

A legal adviser is a special type of lawyer -- one who is willing to consult with you as an integral part of the mediation process. While business lawyers have long served the role of consultant to their clients, divorce lawyers have traditionally been accustomed to taking over and handling the entire case. But as mediation is used by more and more divorcing couples, the need for consulting lawyers has increased. As a result, many divorce lawyers are becoming mediators, and these lawyers usually are happy to work as consulting lawyers on cases they aren't mediating.

Even before the mediation, a legal adviser/law coach can help you evaluate the option of mediation, select a mediator, and persuade your spouse to mediate.

During the mediation, a legal adviser can act as a law coach on an as-needed basis. Between sessions, you can consult with your legal adviser to clarify questions and prepare for negotiations. A good legal adviser can coach you in negotiating techniques and help you think up creative solutions to propose in the mediation.

A legal adviser can also help predict the range of possible legal outcomes if you were to go to court -- and the cost of paying a lawyer to fight for them. Knowing the possible outcomes can be essential to a successful negotiation.

Perhaps most important, a legal adviser can review any written agreement prepared by the mediator to make sure that it says what you want it to say and that it will be legally binding once signed.