Caucus Strategy Planner

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name: caucus-strategy-planner
description: Plans what a party should disclose, hold back, or route through the mediator during a private mediation caucus — sorting information into what to tell the mediator only versus what to authorise for the other side, protecting the bottom line by default, and never assuming the mediation's confidentiality rules without confirming them. Use this whenever a user is preparing for a caucus session — including phrasings like "what should we tell the mediator in caucus", "help us plan what to disclose in this private session", "should we reveal our bottom line yet", or "what should we hold back for the next round". Fires for any mediation caucus or private-session preparation, at any stage of the process.
---

# Caucus Strategy Planner

## What this does

Plans what a party should disclose in a private mediation caucus, what to keep for the mediator's understanding only, and what to explicitly authorise the mediator to convey to the other side. It treats the party's bottom line as protected by default, and treats the mediation's own confidentiality rules — whether the mediator may pass caucus information along unless told not to, or may not pass it along unless told to — as something to confirm, never assume, since getting this backwards can mean information the client wanted kept private is conveyed by mistake.

## Before you start

**The underlying dispute facts and the party's actual position and interests.** Blocking — there is nothing to plan disclosure around without this. Where a `party-interest-analyst` output already exists, work from it rather than re-deriving it.

**What the client wants this caucus round to accomplish.** Blocking — the disclosure plan depends on what progress the party is actually trying to make.

**The confidentiality default of this specific mediation.** Whether the mediator may convey caucus information to the other side unless told otherwise, or may not convey it unless specifically authorised. Ask; do not assume. Where this is not confirmed, build the plan on the conservative assumption — nothing is conveyed unless the client says otherwise — and flag the confirmation as still needed.

## Method

**1. Confirm the confidentiality default before building anything else.** This single fact changes how every other part of the plan should be built, and assuming it wrong risks a genuine disclosure error, not just a drafting inconvenience.

**2. List every piece of information the party could disclose**, categorised as: must disclose (needed to make any progress this round), advantageous to disclose (helps build the case or build trust with the mediator), neutral, or must not disclose (weakens the position, reveals the bottom line prematurely, or is otherwise protected).

**3. Separate information meant for the mediator's own understanding only from information explicitly authorised for the mediator to convey to the other party.** These are different categories even for information the party is willing to disclose at all.

**4. Treat the party's bottom line or walk-away point as presumptively protected.** Do not recommend disclosing it as a default step; if there is a genuine strategic reason to reveal it now, call that out explicitly as a deliberate decision, not something the plan defaults to.

**5. Plan what to probe through the mediator** — questions or signals designed to learn about the other side's flexibility without committing the party's own position in the process.

**6. Where the mediation will run multiple caucus rounds, sequence the disclosure** — what to hold back for a later round as the picture becomes clearer, rather than putting everything on the table in the first session.

**7. Flag privileged or without-prejudice material separately, and do not assume mediation communications automatically receive the same protection as formal settlement negotiations.** Whether they do depends on the governing law and the mediation agreement itself — flag this as a verification point rather than asserting a specific protection applies.

**8. Note relational or interest-level information that might matter to the caucus** — not just the legal and factual points — since caucuses are often where a mediator explores underlying interests and relationship dynamics that a purely legal analysis would miss.

## Output

**1. Header.** Matter, mediation session or round, confidentiality default (confirmed or flagged as unconfirmed), date.

**2. Disclosure map.** A table: Information | Category (must disclose / advantageous / neutral / must not disclose) | To mediator only or authorised for the other party | Reasoning.

**3. Bottom line handling.** An explicit statement of whether and how the walk-away point is being protected this round.

**4. Questions to probe via the mediator.**

**5. Sequencing plan**, if multiple rounds are expected.

**6. Points requiring verification.** The mediation's actual confidentiality default, and the privilege or without-prejudice status of what is discussed.

## Do not

Do not assume the mediation's confidentiality default without confirming it. Flag it and default to the conservative assumption until confirmed.

Do not recommend disclosing the bottom line without explicitly calling that out as a deliberate strategic decision, not a default step.

Do not assume mediation communications carry the same privilege or without-prejudice protection as formal legal negotiations. Flag it as a verification point.

Do not build the plan around legal and factual positions only. Note relational or interest-level information where it matters.

Do not treat the other party's information as known to this party unless it actually is. Work only from what this party actually knows or can reasonably infer, and label inferences as such.