Attorney-Client Privilege in Staten Island Mediation

If you consult a lawyer alongside a Staten Island mediator, keeping those conversations separate from mediation sessions helps preserve attorney-client privilege before anything reaches Richmond County Supreme Court. Mediators themselves are neutral and don’t represent either spouse.

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

So, it sounds like the traditional attorney-client privilege, which is kind of interesting here, extends to both parties with you.

Bill Leininger – Divorce Mediation Attorney – Richmond County, NY

Yes, because there’s going to be, in the mediation agreement, it will say specifically, you know, will deal with confidentiality. And that’s why we have to have a specific understanding. Some mediators say, everything you tell me in caucus, you’re agreeing that I can tell your spouse, unless you specifically say, don’t tell them… ABC.

Others will say, it’s just the opposite. I will not tell your spouse anything that you shared in caucus session with me, unless you specifically tell me I am allowed to. A lot of people feel a little safer doing that, you know, because it has to be something very specific.

I’ll make a note in my notes here and everything else. And so you understand your spouse may get upset when I tell them that, yes, but we’re not going to get any place unless we bring this up.

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

Well, one way it doesn’t, you know, create trust with the person that you’re speaking with. And the other way it does, I mean, I don’t understand why anybody would go the former versus the latter.