How does the presence of lawyers affect the process of mediation? You might guess that when one or both sides bring an attorney to a mediation, the process would become more contentious and adversarial, with impasse more likely, than if the parties worked solely with a mediator. That conventional wisdom is contradicted by new research by professors Jean Poitras of HEC Montreal; Arnaud Stimec of the Université de Nantes, France; and Jean-François Roberge of the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada.