What rapidly growing career choice offers a needed service to clients and a deeply rewarding experience to practitioners-yet remains shrouded in mystery and confusion? The answer is mediation, the calling of the profession go-between.

With Becoming A Mediator: Your Guide To Career Opportunities, Nolo lights the way for all those who have ever wondered if they could make a living by helping people resolve conflict without recourse to courts and lawyers. The new book is full of practical, encouraging information for such people.

Mediation enjoys stunning success across all sectors-interpersonal disputes, commercial matters, and public policy issues. Recent studies show 88 percent satisfaction with the mediation experience by both sides. And mediators get a natural high despite the various challenges and drawbacks that the book clearly describes.

The field is attracting trainees and aspirants from a broad range of backgrounds-volunteers, therapists, social workers, HR managers...and, of course, lawyers. What they tend to have in common is the desire to do the "sacred work" of conflict resolution.

"They are drawn by something nobler than a desire for wealth or recognition," the authors write. "...A deeply felt need to be of service, to use one's skills to accomplish something of value, to connect with people, and to make a difference in their lives."

Well and good. But how do you get started? After explaining what mediation is (a ritualized process designed to culminate in a win-win agreement) and isn't (arbitration, in which a third party functions as a judge), the authors describe the qualities that make a good mediator, so readers can self-evaluate. They offer extensive resource information about mediation training and certification programs, and they show you how to market yourself one of the toughest tasks faced by the beginner.

The book is full of practical tips for the neophyte. For example:

• To get exposure to a variety of cases (and learn what you like), volunteer at a nonprofit public mediation center
• During a mediation session, tackle the easiest issues first to build participants' confidence in the process
• Look for clues to undisclosed (and perhaps unperceived) issues

In a world of conflict, where courts tend to make a decision only after wasting both side's resources and destroying any hope of a further relationship, mediation seeks-and usually achieves-mutual satisfaction. It does so swiftly, at low cost, while protecting both parties' privacy. Becoming a Mediator provides a clear blueprint for anyone drawn to this engaging and worthwhile career.

About the Authors
Peter Lovenheim, a graduate of Cornell Law School, has more than 20 years' experience in mediation. He served as a legal counsel and director of program development for the Center of Dispute Resolution in upstate New York, and was founder and president of a private dispute resolution company. Mr. Lovenheim has written three previous books on mediation-including Mediate, Don't Litigate, as well as popular books of narrative journalism. He live in Rochester, New York,.

Emily Doskow is a Nolo author and editor, and a mediator and attorney in private practice in Berkeley, California, specializing in adoption and family mediation, especially for same-sex couples. She is the co-author of two other Nolo books, Do Your Own California Adoption: Nolo's Guide for Stepparents & Domestic Partners and How to Change Your Name in  California.

Becoming a Mediator: Your Guide to Career Opportunities
By Peter Lovenheim and Emily Doskow
Price: $29.99
ISBN: 1-4133-0077-4