Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
Career, Salary and Education Information
What They Do: Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators facilitate negotiation and dialogue between disputing parties to help resolve conflicts outside of the court system.
Work Environment: Many arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators work for state or local governments or in the legal services industry.
How to Become One: Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators typically learn their skills through a combination of education, training, and work experience.
Salary: The median annual wage for arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators is $49,410.
Job Outlook: Employment of arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators is projected to grow 6 percent over the next ten years, about as fast as the average for all occupations. This projected growth is driven by the fact that mediations and arbitrations are typically faster and less costly than litigation and may be required in certain types of legal cases.
Related Careers: Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators with similar occupations.
Following is everything you need to know about a career as an arbitrators, mediator, or conciliator with lots of details. As a first step, take a look at some of the following jobs, which are real jobs with real employers. You will be able to see the very real job career requirements for employers who are actively hiring. The link will open in a new tab so that you can come back to this page to continue reading about the career:
Top 3 Arbitration Jobs
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Senior Associate Attorney
- Stein Ray LLP
- Chicago, IL
Stein Ray's practice focuses primarily on high-stakes, complex litigation and arbitration before domestic and international tribunals, as well as on transactional and contract engagements on behalf ...
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Associate Attorney
- Stein Ray LLP
- Chicago, IL
Stein Ray's practice focuses primarily on high-stakes, complex litigation and arbitration before domestic and international tribunals, as well as on transactional and contract engagements on behalf ...
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Personal Injury Attorney
- Copper Canyon Law LLC
- Mesa, AZ
Ryan Sandstrom's Personal Injury team is hiring! We're looking for an associate attorney with 3-5 years of experience handling personal injury matters, ideally with deposition and arbitration ...
What Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators Do[About this section] [To Top]
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators facilitate negotiation and dialogue between disputing parties to help resolve conflicts outside of the court system.
Duties of Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators typically do the following:
- Facilitate communication between disputants to guide parties toward mutual agreement
- Clarify issues, concerns, needs, and interests of all parties involved
- Conduct initial meetings with disputants to outline the arbitration process
- Settle procedural matters such as fees, or determine details such as witness numbers and time requirements
- Set up appointments for parties to meet for mediation or arbitration
- Interview claimants, agents, or witnesses to obtain information about disputed issues
- Prepare settlement agreements for disputants to sign
- Apply relevant laws, regulations, policies, or precedents to reach conclusions
- Evaluate information from documents such as claim applications, birth or death certificates, and physician or employer records
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators help opposing parties settle disputes outside of court. They hold private, confidential hearings, which are less formal than a court trial.
Arbitrators are usually attorneys, business professionals, or retired judges with expertise in a particular field. As impartial third parties, they hear and decide disputes between opposing parties. Arbitrators may work alone or in a panel with other arbitrators. In some cases, arbitrators may decide procedural issues, such as what evidence may be submitted and when hearings will be held.
Arbitration may be required by law for some claims and disputes. When it is not required, the parties in dispute sometimes voluntarily agree to arbitration rather than proceed with litigation or a trial. In some cases, parties may appeal the arbitrator's decision.
Mediators are neutral parties who help people resolve their disputes. However, unlike arbitrators, they do not render binding decisions. Rather, mediators help facilitate discussion and guide the parties toward a mutually acceptable agreement. If the opposing sides cannot reach a settlement with the mediator's help, they are free to pursue other options.
Conciliators are similar to mediators. Although their role is to help guide opposing sides to a settlement, they typically meet with the parties separately. The opposing sides must decide in advance if they will be bound by the conciliator's recommendations.
Work Environment for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators[About this section] [To Top]
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators hold about 8,900 jobs. The largest employers of arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators are as follows:
| Legal services | 29% |
| Self-employed workers | 14% |
| State government, excluding education and hospitals | 12% |
| Local government, excluding education and hospitals | 12% |
| Healthcare and social assistance | 4% |
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators usually work in private offices or meeting rooms. They may travel to a neutral site chosen for negotiations.
The work may be stressful because arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators sometimes work with difficult or confrontational individuals or with highly charged and emotional situations, such as injury settlements or family disputes.
How to Become a Arbitrator, Mediator, and Conciliator[About this section] [To Top]
Get the education you need: Find schools for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators near you!
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators learn their skills through a combination of education, training, and work experience.
Education for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
Education is one part of becoming an arbitrator, mediator, or conciliator.
Few candidates receive a degree specific to the field of arbitration, mediation, or conflict resolution. Rather, many positions require an educational degree appropriate to the applicant's field of expertise, and a bachelor's degree is often sufficient. Many other positions, however, require applicants to have a law degree, a master's in business administration, or some other advanced degree.
Work Experience in a Related Occupation for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators are usually lawyers, retired judges, or business professionals with expertise in a particular field, such as construction, finance, or insurance. They need to have knowledge of that industry and be able to relate well to people from different cultures and backgrounds.
Arbitrator, Mediator, and Conciliator Training
Mediators typically work under the supervision of an experienced mediator for a certain number of cases before working independently.
Training for arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators is available through independent mediation programs, national and local mediation membership organizations, and postsecondary schools. Training is also available by volunteering at a community mediation center.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
There is no national license for arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators. However, some states require arbitrators and mediators to become certified to work on certain types of cases. Qualifications, standards, and the number of training hours required vary by state or by court. Most states require mediators to complete 20 to 40 hours of training courses to become certified. Some states require additional hours of training in a specialty area.
Some states require licenses appropriate to the applicant's field of expertise. For example, some courts may require applicants to be licensed attorneys or certified public accountants.
Important Qualities for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
Critical-thinking skills. Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators must apply rules of law. They must remain neutral and not let their own personal assumptions interfere with the proceedings.
Decisionmaking skills. Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators must be able to weigh facts, apply the law or rules, and make a decision relatively quickly.
Interpersonal skills. Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators deal with disputing parties and must be able to facilitate discussion in a calm and respectful way.
Listening skills. Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators must pay close attention to what is being said in order for them to evaluate information.
Reading skills. Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators must be able to evaluate and distinguish important facts from large amounts of complex information.
Writing skills. Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators write recommendations or decisions relating to appeals or disputes. They must be able to write their decisions clearly so that all sides understand the decision.
Arbitrator, Mediator, and Conciliator Salaries[About this section] [More salary/earnings info] [To Top]
The median annual wage for arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators is $49,410. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $29,990, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $110,350.
The median annual wages for arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators in the top industries in which they work are as follows:
| Local government, excluding education and hospitals | $73,610 |
| State government, excluding education and hospitals | $65,310 |
| Healthcare and social assistance | $46,640 |
| Legal services | $29,990 |
Job Outlook for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators[About this section] [To Top]
Employment of arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators is projected to grow 6 percent over the next ten years, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
About 500 openings for arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment of Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
Arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution methods often are quicker and less expensive than trials and litigation. In addition, many contracts, such as those for employment and real estate, include clauses requiring mediation or arbitration to resolve complaints and disputes.
However, many arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators work for state or local governments, and budgetary constraints may limit employment growth. Also, in some cases or industries, litigation is unavoidable, or its benefits are preferred over the benefits gained in other types of conflict resolution.
| Occupational Title | Employment, 2021 | Projected Employment, 2031 | Change, 2021-31 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | Numeric | |||
| Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators | 8,900 | 9,500 | 6 | 600 |
More Arbitrator, Mediator, and Conciliator Information[About this section] [To Top]
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A portion of the information on this page is used by permission of the U.S. Department of Labor.