In Search of Family Mediation Virtue Ethics: Picking Through the Undergrowth

Although mediator ethics can seem relatively straightforward, pathways through disputes can be convoluted or vague, with different values vying for light; the tangles of competing values and issues are never more than a footstep away. Family mediators typically practise in compliance with codes of conduct. These vary according to jurisdiction, typically focusing on what practitioners should (or should not) do, rather than why any course of action might be morally justified or prohibited. The ethical values underpinning the codes are largely unarticulated, while mediators’ personal qualities also mostly go unmentioned. In this paper I discuss some of these issues from my perspective as a family mediator practising in this jurisdiction (England and Wales). I also propose that the concept of virtue ethics is relevant to mediators, and suggest certain personal qualities – drawn from the virtue ethics literature – to which all Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioners might usefully aspire. I end by considering Ricœur’s (1992) caring conversation and ethical intention — ‘aiming at the “good life”, with and for others, in just institutions’, as potentially offering the best ethical guidance to our field.