Collaboration?
As mediators we constantly face challenges when clients actively maintain a veil of secrecy, advocate their positions aggressively, and selectively reveal data which serves the purposes of their hypotheses in a mediation. At times this creates an adversarial collaboration much akin to what lawyers practice and face every day. Figuring out how to merge these activities into "problem solving" towards mutual agreement is a challenge. It requires considerable skill so as not to unwittingly become an advocate for one side because they were more selective and focused in the data offered which is part of their negotiation strategy, were better advocates, and held back secrets material to collaborative problem solving. We don't have an oath which clients take to tell the truth.
