The mediation process in the Court of Appeals is confidential in the sense that the judges are not told by the mediation staff about the content of a mediation or even that a particular case has been, or is currently, in mediation. Requests for changes in the briefing schedule (see answer to Question 9, above) which, if referred to the judges for decision, would alert them to the identity of cases in mediation, are not so referred but are decided instead by the Clerk of the Court on delegated authority.

The Court also expects participating counsel to refrain from commenting publicly about the fact that a case is in mediation or from disclosing any information about the parties’ discussions or the status of the talks to anyone who is not, directly or indirectly, a party to the negotiations.