First meeting with the mediator

The mediator meets with both parties in an attempt to resolve the outstanding issues or assist the parties in narrowing the issues separating the parties.

Certifying the issues

An important role for the mediator is to identify the issues that the parties have bargained about and over which they are still at impasse.  This is known as certifying the issues.  Parties will often raise different issues during the mediation process, but the JLMC holds the parties to these identified issues as the JLMC process progresses.