IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN COMPROMISE

IT’S ABOUT RESOLUTION

What does mediation entail?

STEPS TO A DEEPLY HUMAN PROCESS

Connect first. Brief calls with each side before we begin. No charge. Mediation works best when everyone knows what they're walking into.

Prepare intently. Your brief should tell the whole story—strengths, weaknesses, what keeps you up at night about this case. If it matters to you, it matters to the process.

Resolve wisely. Virtual or in-person. Downtown Visalia or location of your choosing. Caucuses, joint sessions, whatever serves the goal.

You can expect: Radical preparation. Unflinching honesty about your case. An instinct for finding the deal that works. Walking away with something better than what brought you here.

What makes Bret’s approach to mediation different?

Mr. Geckeler’s experience mediating hundreds of cases means you get wisdom beyond just legal information.

Lawyers bring Bret Geckeler their most challenging cases.  Where a "difficult" party's reputation precedes them, where everyone's convinced the other side is unreasonable, where everyone doubts a set tlement can happen.  That’s where Bret thrives.  He has a rare ability to transform dispute into dignity.

Some mediators start with tactics or the law. Bret starts with curiosity about the people in the room. He sees the human stories beneath legal positions. He listens for what's underneath the anger, beneath the demands. Asks questions others avoid.  Lives for the moment where the seemingly impossible becomes understandable. And the deal becomes inevitable.

THIS IS AIKIDO, NOT BOXING

You don't meet force with force—you redirect it. Find the current moving through the conflict and guide it toward resolution. Not compromise as defeat, but reciprocity as progress.

Wisdom Beyond Legal Information

Four years as a full-time mediator and hundreds of cases mediated have taught Bret this:

  • Resolution doesn't live in the argument.

  • It lives in the silence between words.

  • In what people mean but cannot say.

  • In the human story beneath the legal story.

  • The pattern is always different. The outcome is increasingly predictable.