In case the mediation has been initiated by one of the parties, the mediator shall issue an ‘Invitation to Mediate’ to the opposing party. Once agreed upon, the initial scheduling of the mediation will be done. Ideally, the mediator should meet both the parties together the first time in the initial joint session. At this point, the mediator covers the basic mediation process and protocols to be followed. In case, one of the parties has met the mediator before the mediation due to some reason, then this fact should be brought out at the very beginning of the first session to convey absence of bias and potential conflict of interest.