You have something that is very valuable, something that a lot of lawyers would pay good money for…. And you don’t even know it. With just a little effort, you can have a very good part time income, on your day off, without even straining yourself. If you are fluent in English and any other language, if you are part of an ethnic community and can get the word out, you can make money translating for divorce mediators. Think about it, all day long you are hearing about your client’s personal problems. Some of them come to you because you speak their language. They trust you and they don’t know what lawyer to use when they want to divorce. They need help and can pay for it.
Do you know how many couples stay together because they are so intimidated by divorce court? They have heard the horror stories about nasty divorces and they don’t want to get involved in an ugly court fight. Those kinds of couples are PERFECT for mediation. If you don’t know those people, you want to find them. You want to ask around the community and see who fits this description. The last step is to find a mediator you want to work with.
Mediators can usually be found in the phone book under Divorce Assistance. Call around and interview the lawyers. Tell them that you are looking to establish a referral relationship with a great mediator. Ask how many couples they have helped with mediation and what percentage of those cases have settled. Ask them how long a mediation usually takes and how much they charge. You will want ot know if the majority of their practice is mediation or if they are really litigators in sheep’s clothing. Ask them if it would be worth $250 for you to bring them a couple and do the translation for the day. You may have to negotiate your translation fee but you are worth at least $150! So that you can compare their answers to mine, I have 100% success rate with over 185 couples. I only do mediation, nothing else. On average it takes me between 4-7 hours to do a mediation. I have very special skills that most lawyers don’t have in that I was a special education teacher for many years and have a Masters in teaching severely emotionally disturbed children, so I have yet to meet a couple I couldn’t work with. But there are a lot of skilled mediators who are dying for new business. It is best to work with a lawyer who is a mediator, that way they can do all the legal forms and get everything done for the couple. But you need to watch out for lawyers who say they are mediators but are really just trying to cash in on a good thing. It is important that at least half their practice involves mediation. With just a little work, you can have a steady stream of clients to translate for and you can help others and yourself at the same time. mediation costs uk
ashdev