Oregon has strict secrecy laws as to what occurs during mediation. ORS 36.220 makes communications during mediation confidential unless the parties agree otherwise. In Alfieri v. Solomon, 358 Or 383, 365 P3d 99 (2015), the court held that communications with one’s attorney outside the mediation process could be a basis for a legal malpractice case, but that communications during the mediation PROBABLY could not be. Most mediation agreements will broaden that confidentiality to communications any time after the mediation process starts with the first contact by any party with the mediator. But read your mediation agreement carefully. The confidentiality shroud probably will extend to the time the parties sign the settlement agreement with the mediator, but probably not after the mediation ends and the mediator steps away from the process.

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