Rule 100.07.Separation of mediation from legal and other professional advice.

This is a short rule with a clear line: a mediator mediates, and does nothing else. The mediator cannot double as the parties' lawyer, accountant, or advisor during the same session, even informally.

The point is to keep the mediator's neutrality intact. A mediator who starts handing out legal advice to one side stops being neutral between the parties, and the process loses the trust it depends on. This rule works alongside Rule 100.05, which lets a mediator point parties toward getting outside advice elsewhere, and Rule 100.06, which keeps the mediator from weighing in unasked on the merits of the dispute.