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Mediation has become an invaluable tool in large chapter 11 cases. Traditionally viewed as a means for resolving discrete disputes between a debtor’s estate and an adversary party, in recent years mediation has in certain complex cases evolved into a multiparty undertaking involving claimants from all levels of a debtor’s capital structure, with the ambitious goal of resolving the entire case through a consensual plan of reorganization.

Here’s a confession: I’m in a four-party mediation. It begins at 9:30 a.m. in a joint 30-minute session. The mediator then spends 30 minutes with each party. It’s now noon — we’re taking lunch orders — and the mediation process has only just begun! At mid-afternoon, positions are far apart, and pressure mounts to make lots of progress in a hurry. At 4:30 p.m., one party meets with the mediator for only the second time — that’s after six hours of mostly twiddle-your-thumbs down-time! However, all parties want to get a deal accomplished, and by 6:30 p.m. a settlement document is signed.

Mediation will continue to expand as a resource in all types of bankruptcy cases. It is the hope of the Mediation Committee that the ABI Mediation Model Rules will become a valuable resource for judges, local rules committees, professionals and parties, and that the rules will help facilitate the growth and accessibility of bankruptcy mediation to the entire bankruptcy community.

It’s January 2011. I’m sitting in a conference room at the Federal Courthouse in Omaha (the building is new and beautiful; you should visit it sometime). It’s a “brown-bag luncheon” for the local bankruptcy bench and bar. We’re on the last agenda item (open forum), and the judge asks for input. Having recently completed a couple of state court mediations, I raise my hand and say, “What about using mediations in bankruptcy?” Next thing that happens: I’m chair of the Nebraska Bankruptcy Court Mediation Committee.

More and more, alternative dispute resolution is providing an efficient methodology for reducing the costs of bankruptcy proceedings and bankruptcy litigation. It was not that long ago that bankruptcy lawyers inherently believed that they were capable of settling their own cases and did not need outside help. (The authors were among those people.)