A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the Forum

The Roman Forum was the “courthouse” of the day. Courthouses in the United States have long sported Greco-Roman architecture including columns that reflect this ancient connection. They frequently borrow solemnity and import from the early Forum. Our culture is moving toward far fewer bricks and more clicks, and similarly from forums to conference rooms.

A judge in a courtroom must make a divorce “final,” but the negotiation process and paperwork needed for presentation in the courtroom can come from any comfortable meeting space and a personal computer. The right place for divorce mediation is where everyone feels comfortable and as peaceful as possible. That can be in a neutral setting unfamiliar with both parties, in a meeting room in a public library, or in the home where the marriage was lived. Really, the choices are endless. Some are comfortable in the hubbub of a Starbuck’s, the nation’s new living room.

It is the process of negotiation and the development of the correct documents which is important. Comfort, convenience, and practicality (wouldn’t the kids playing upstairs be more natural than a chrome and glass office) are the keys to what makes a Forum Magnum for divorce mediation.

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