Were you one of the 3.2 million viewers who watched Fairly Legal, on the USA Network, last season? The show, which premiered last January, is about a mediator in San Francisco, and the second season is expected to return in January 2012.
In the pilot episode we learn that Kate has recently quit the traditional practice of law at her father’s firm. After some period of mourning his death she has decided to save her soul by reinventing herself as a mediator. The disputes Kate mediates in the show range from talking a would-be robber out of shooting a store-owner to negotiating the consummation of a merger by getting the CEO’s son out of a DUI.
Some professionals in the alternative dispute–resolution field were enraged after watching the pilot season, believing the show had zero grounding in reality. Some agree that the realistic depiction of the mediation process would make for a dull and sober show; however, others feel the purpose of the various vignettes is not so much to highlight the mediation process as to highlight Kate’s tact and creative problem-solving abilities and to raise interesting questions about fairness and cooperation.
Major changes have been announced for the new season. Although Kate is still a mediator, the focus of the show is going to be conflict resolution and not just the “M-word.” There’s only so much you can tell about a show from its pilot, and, presumably, some of the kinks will be worked out as the season progresses. As mediators, our mission is to protect the process. Is Fairly Legal giving the mediation process a bad reputation, or is it introducing the option of mediation to a whole new demographic? You be the judge. Tune in to Fairly Legal this January to see if you are pleased with the depiction of conflict resolution.
