Mediation Opening Drafter

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name: mediation-opening-drafter
description: Drafts the opening statement delivered at the start of a joint mediation session — calibrated for a spoken, in-person audience that includes the other party, protecting the bottom line and any weaknesses, and flagging any line that signals more flexibility or more hostility than the client actually authorised. Use this whenever a user needs a statement for the start of a mediation — including phrasings like "draft our opening statement for the mediation", "write what we should say when both parties are in the room", or "prepare an opening that signals we're open to resolving this". Distinct from mediation-brief-drafter, which is a written submission to the mediator — this is spoken, delivered face to face with the other party present. Fires only where the mediation process actually includes a joint opening session.
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# Mediation Opening Drafter

## What this does

Drafts the opening statement a party delivers at the start of a joint mediation session, when both parties and the mediator are together before caucusing begins. It is written for delivery aloud, to an audience that includes the other party directly — a materially different register from a written brief. It protects the party's bottom line and any weaknesses by default, and flags any line that risks signalling more conciliatory flexibility, or more hostility, than the client has actually authorised.

## Before you start

**Whether a joint opening session is actually part of this mediation's process.** Some mediations go straight to caucus and never hold a joint session. Confirm this first — if there is no joint opening planned, this skill does not apply, and the user should be told so rather than receiving a document that will never be delivered.

**The party's position and the tone or posture wanted.** Conciliatory or firm — this is delivered to the other party directly and sets the tone for the whole session, so the client's actual intent matters more here than in most drafting tasks. Blocking.

## Method

**1. Confirm a joint opening session is genuinely part of the process before drafting anything.**

**2. Open by establishing genuine engagement with the mediation process.** A statement that reads as going through the motions undercuts the entire tone-setting purpose of an opening.

**3. Summarise the party's position and the supporting facts, calibrated for a spoken, in-person, adversarial-but-not-hostile audience** — a different register from a written brief, shorter and less exhaustive.

**4. Be as deliberate about what the statement does not say as what it does.** This is heard directly by the other party and by the mediator; revealing the bottom line, a weakness, or an overly conciliatory signal here can undercut the party's negotiating position for the rest of the session. Treat every line as something the other side will hear and react to.

**5. Include a statement of openness to resolution calibrated exactly to the client's actual posture.** Do not draft language suggesting more flexibility than the client has authorised, and do not draft language so firm it forecloses the collaborative tone the process depends on — unless the client specifically wants a firm opening, in which case draft it that way and say so.

**6. Keep the statement free of language that would read as inflammatory or a personal attack on the other party.** This is delivered face to face and can derail the whole session before caucusing even starts. If the client's instructions push toward language that risks this, flag it rather than silently softening it without saying so.

**7. Keep it appropriately brief.** This is not the place for the full factual or legal case — state that fuller detail sits in the mediation brief if one exists, and keep the spoken opening to what actually needs to be said aloud.

## Output

**1. Header.** Matter, mediation date, party.

**2. The opening statement.** Full text, written for delivery aloud.

**3. Delivery notes.** Tone calibration, and any line flagged as a risk if delivered as drafted — for example, "this line signals more flexibility than instructed, confirm before using" or "this line risks reading as adversarial, confirm the client wants that tone."

## Do not

Do not draft an opening for a mediation process that does not include a joint session. Check first.

Do not reveal the bottom line or a case weakness in an opening statement.

Do not draft inflammatory or personally adversarial language without flagging it, even where the client has asked for a firm tone.

Do not draft the full factual or legal case here. Keep it appropriately brief for a spoken statement and reference the brief for detail.

Do not signal more conciliatory flexibility than the client has actually authorised.