Choosing a mediator is rarely a solo decision. Opposing counsel gets a say. So does your client, and sometimes co-counsel. What usually follows is a chain of emails: three names traded back and forth, nobody quite sure who’s actually open, and a week gone before anyone books a date.
A neutral proposal is our answer to that back-and-forth. You assemble a short list of neutrals, optionally add the dates you’re aiming for, and send it. Everyone you name gets a link to the same live page: they can see real availability, strike whoever won’t work, add names of their own, talk it through, and request the date. It’s one document instead of a thread, and it stays current no matter how many times it changes hands.
Step one: build your list
You can add neutrals from anywhere you’re already looking:
- On the full panel, click Build a list, then hit Select on anyone you’re considering.
- On the scheduling page, the same Build a list control appears whether you’re browsing the panel or using Match Me to narrow by case type.
- On any neutral’s bio page, click Add to your list.
A small tray docks at the bottom of the screen and follows you from page to page as you go, so your list is always one glance away. Add someone from a bio, keep browsing the panel, filter by practice area on the scheduling page; it’s all the same list.
Step two: review, and add your dates
When you’re ready, open Review & send from the tray. A summary line at the top tells you exactly what you’re about to propose (“Proposing 3 neutrals on any date they’re open”), with the controls that change it right underneath.
Each neutral you chose lands on the page as a live calendar card: headshot, years of experience, format, rate, and a month view of open dates pulled straight from their real calendar. Nothing is stale; you’re looking at the same availability our staff sees.
Then there’s the second half of the question. A list of names answers who; it doesn’t answer when, and handing someone three full month calendars asks them to intersect three schedules in their head. So click Propose dates and you get one pooled calendar for the whole list: every day carries a small badge showing how many of your neutrals are free that day (2/3), and days nobody is open on are dead. Pick the dates you’re actually aiming for.
The moment you do, the month calendars fold away and a grid takes their place: your dates down the left, your neutrals across the top, availability in every cell. Rows where every neutral is open are highlighted. Now the proposal says one clear thing: any of these neutrals, on any of these dates, and here’s exactly where those overlap.
Dates are optional. Skip them and you’ve sent the original all-availability proposal, which is the right shape when the other side’s calendar is the constraint.
Step three: send it
The send form sits at the foot of the page, always visible, so you review what you’re proposing and then send what you just reviewed. Add the recipients’ email addresses, your name and email, and optionally a case name and a short note.
We email the proposal to everyone you listed and copy you, with you on reply-to, so any stray reply reaches you rather than us. The email carries the neutrals, a snapshot of the availability grid, and the link to the live proposal.
Sending is what creates the proposal. There’s no separate “copy a link” step, deliberately: it’s the only way to guarantee that the email and the document it points to say the same thing.
What the other side gets
Not a read-only snapshot. A document.
Whoever opens the link sees the proposal headed by your case name and “Started by [you]”, your note as the first entry in the discussion, and the same grid or calendars you were looking at. No account, no install, nothing to sign up for.
And they can change it:
- Remove any neutral or date that won’t work, with an inline
×. - Add neutrals from a search box right on the page, without leaving for the panel.
- Add or edit dates using the same pooled availability calendar you used.
- Leave a message for the other parties.
Then they hit Send, and everyone on the proposal is notified that it changed. The link always shows the current version, so there’s no “which list are we on” problem and no attachment to hunt for.
The discussion lives with the list
Underneath the proposal is a single feed, oldest first. Messages from any party read as comments. Between them, quiet system lines record what actually changed: “Jane Doe removed Judge Lyle.” Your original note is entry number one.
A message rides along with Send rather than having its own button, so there’s one action, not two. You can send a message alone, or a message plus your edits, and either way everyone gets one notification.
Worth stating plainly: Henning isn’t part of that discussion and doesn’t monitor it. Messages on a proposal are between the parties. If you need us, call the office.
Nothing is booked until someone asks
The proposal is where you agree. Booking is still a real request, and the page says so.
Once you’ve settled on a neutral and a date, any party can click that available date and go straight to a date request. No separate email, no phone tag, no “you send it, no you send it”: the permission is stated, so whoever gets there first can do it.
When that request goes through, it loops back into the feed: “Jane Doe requested Judge Lyle for Sep 8.” Everyone on the proposal can see the date was requested and by whom, which closes the loop that email chains never close.
Still just want to compare calendars?
The scheduling page keeps its Compare Calendars view: several neutrals’ months side by side, no proposal involved. That’s a looking tool. A proposal is a deciding tool. If your question is genuinely “when can these two both do it,” compare is the faster answer; if the question is “can we all agree on one,” send a proposal.
A little housekeeping
Proposals stay open for 30 days after the last change, so a link that’s gone quiet eventually expires rather than living forever. Every notification email carries a one-click way to mute that proposal: it stops the email, the link keeps working. And because the link is the access, anyone who has it can read the discussion, so treat forwarding it the way you’d treat forwarding the email.
Get started
The next time you need buy-in on a neutral, skip the email chain. Browse the panel, build a list, add the dates you’re aiming for, and send it. The other side sees real availability, revises it with you on the same page, and books, all in one place.