Mediation is used whenever and wherever negotiation has failed or is in need of assistance.
These are just some examples from Scotland:
- Agriculture and farming (eg landlord and tenant matters, rights of access, use of land)
- Banking, insolvency and financial services (eg disputes between customers and banks over lending or other complaints, debt recovery)
- Construction and engineering (from major infrastructure projects like the Edinburgh trams to individual house-building and extension works)
- Contracts (all manner of commercial and other dealings)
- Employment and Workplace (individual disputes between employee and employer, team and other group dysfunction, conflict between managers, difficult union/management negotiations)
- Family (from disputes over access to children to the allocation of property on separation or divorce to family business arrangements)
- Government, local authorities (legislative errors, waste management schemes, flood control, planning, environment, provision of services, local community issues)
- Health services (allegations of medical negligence, complaints about care, consultant/consultant conflict, management/workforce relations)
- Higher education (student complaints, research projects, staff/management matters, funding)
- Homelessness (mediation services exist in a number of areas to help prevent homelessness)
- Housing (a home owner housing panel resolving disputes between homeowners and factors, application of the NHBC scheme)
- Insurance (compensation claims of all sorts, allegations of professional negligence against all manner of professionals)
- Intellectual Property (patents, copyright, licensing etc)
- Landlord and tenant (disputes over leases, rent, dilapidations)
- Neighbourhood and Community (multiple occupancy, nuisance, boundaries, noise, use of open space, conflicting views on use of limited resources)
- Schools (the use of peer mediation is a real success in a number of locations in Scotland, Assisted Special Needs Mediation helps resolve concerns and differences parents may have with schools and education authorities over the education of their children)
- SMEs (supply chain contracts, shareholder conflict, management tensions)
- Others include: the Not for Profit sector, Management and Boardroom, Oil and Gas, Sport, Personal Injury compensation claims.