by Gordon Sloan

MORNING
5:31 The sun is up and I should be too. Time to grab some food (three fruit, two cheese, one juice, sweet and milky tea) before a day in the life of this mediator begins.

5:47 At the computer, sifting spam, opening interesting messages. One from a Masters student wondering how to enter the field. One from a legal assistant wanting to book an urgent mediation in the next three days (fat chance). One from a union leader in Winnipeg wanting negotiation training for his executives at Corrections Canada.

6:02 Conference call with people in Calgary and Halifax together with their boss in Ottawa about a workplace assessment we’re doing for a poisoned working environment in the Halifax office. The assessment is going well, and we will need to follow up with a meeting of the staff and some anti-harassment training. I book the flights.

6:38 Short call with National Defene to settle the venue for a mediation in Toronto next week about a demoted officer who has sued for his wrongful dismissal. Something about a notorious prosecution after a soldier’s death in a military exercise. Sounds enticing.

6:50 Quick call to my partner about the workplan for the new edition of the training manual and changes to the website. Side calls with the associates in Ottawa and Edmonton. Confirm with the administrator.

7:10 Finish e-mails to the Law Society about whether mediation is always the practice of law when engaged in by lawyers (yawn!).

7:50 Get on a float plane from Victoria to Vancouver to mediate a four party estate dispute (wills variation, undue influence, incapacity all alleged).

9:30 - 4:10 The mediation is polite but there is seething resentment apparent between the black sheep and his two sisters, all in their forties. The second parent to die is now gone and the knives are out. Counsel are helpful and generally serve their clients well. That’s not always the case. After much discussion, the parties agree to proportions of the estate, management of the three storey walk-up apartment that remains in trust and distribution of family pictures and junk jewelry. No one will be getting together with the black sheep for Thanksgiving dinner – that’s for certain.

5:20 Float plane home after checking messages and e-mails. I wonder why I ever practised conventional law. I rethink that sentiment. Just as I begin to appreciate the broad background my first decade provided, I nod off.

EVENING
7:00 Dinner with my wife and discovery of what’s been up all day. She’s lovely and I remember how our long relationship is an oasis.

8:40 Game of squash with someone I’ve been putting off for a week or so. He destroys me and I deserve it. Not getting back to the centre of the court enough! But then maybe that’s like life!

10:15 In bed. Tired as a dog. Damnit! – if I had only worked harder in the second game, I could have taken that set – I’m sure of it.…

Gordon Sloan was called in 1975. He is a mediator and educator who works across Canada.

This article was published in the June 2008 issue of BarTalk. © 2008 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.