2. Section 9(c) and (f). Disclosure of mediator's qualifications

Sections 9(c) and (f) address the issue of mediator qualifications, and, like the conflicts of interest provision, are intended to further principles of party autonomy and informed consent. In particular, these Sections do not require mediators to have certain qualifications, specifically including a law degree; nor, unlike the conflicts of interest provision, do they impose an affirmative duty on the mediator to disclose qualifications. Rather, the mediator's obligation is responsive: if a party asks for the mediator's qualifications to mediate a particular dispute, the mediator must provide those qualifications.

In some situations, the parties may make clear that they care about the mediator's substantive knowledge of the context of the dispute, or that they want to know whether the mediator in the past has used a purely facilitative mediation process or instead an evaluative approach. Compare Leonard L. Riskin, Understanding Mediators' Orientations, Strategies, and Techniques: A Grid for the Perplexed, 1 Harv. Negotiation L. Rev. 7 (1996) with Joseph B. Stulberg, Facilitative Versus Evaluative Mediator Orientations: Piercing The "Grid" Lock, 24 Fla. State Univ. L. Rev. 985 (1997); see generally Symposium, Fla. State Univ. L. Rev. (1997). Experience mediating would seem important to some parties, and indeed this is one aspect of the mediator's background that has been shown to correlate with effectiveness in reaching settlement. See, e.g., Jessica Pearson & Nancy Thoennes, Divorce Mediation Research Results, in Divorce Mediation: Theory and Practice, 429, 436 (Folberg & Milne, eds., 1988); Roselle L. Wissler, A Closer Look at Settlement Week, 4 Disp. Resol. Mag. 28 (Summer 1998).

It must be stressed that the Act does not establish mediator qualifications. No consensus has emerged in the law, research, or commentary as to those mediator qualifications that will best produce effectiveness or fairness. As clarified by Section 9(f),