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In the New Hampshire Superior Courts, parties in a civil matter are given the opportunity to resolve the dispute through mediation and, therefore, avoid a trial.  Often, this process allows the parties to resolve their dispute themselves through settlement, instead of leaving the decision in the control of a judge or jury. 

Mediation is a process in which the parties (and their attorneys) get together with a third person to try to resolve the conflict, usually long before it goes to trial.  The third person (or mediator) is often called a "neutral" because he/she is a volunteer lawyer, trained to act as an unbiased facilitator.

As a trial lawyer, I am a firm believer in the process of mediation, and I myself am a volunteer mediator.  I find that the process is the one time when the parties to a lawsuit actually sit down and listen to the other person's side of the story.  They also get to see some of the evidence that a judge or jury would see, and get a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their own cases. 

Mediation is certainly not the right way to resolve every case, but it does provide an excellent opportunity to save time, money and stress for people who have better things to do than spend time preparing for, and going through, a trial in superior court.