The American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) Presents Almost Done Isn’t Done: The Art & Law of Closing Mediation Settlements that Stick

It’s late. The parties said yes. Now the real work begins. Getting to agreement is only half the battle. The deals that fall apart — the ones that end up back in court, mired in enforcement motions, or unraveling in the long-form drafting process — almost always fail because of what happened (or didn’t happen) in the final hour of the mediation and the critical days that followed.

Every experienced mediator and litigator knows the feeling. After hours of hard negotiation, the parties finally reach a number. Hands are shaken. Relief fills the room. The mediator starts thinking about dinner. And then — three days later, three weeks later, or three months later — the deal falls apart. A settlement that looks good on paper is not a good resolution unless it actually works. And the gap between a settlement that looks done and a settlement that is done — truly, durably, and “enforceably” done — is exactly where the most consequential mistakes in mediation practice are made. This session is about that gap.