When is presuit mediation appropriate?

We all agree that the timing of when to conduct a mediation is almost as important as who is selected as the mediator. Legal disputes are sometimes appropriate to mediate before any suit is filed. In most instances, those are disputes that have well defined facts and documents have already been voluntarily exchanged by the parties. These cases are ripe for presuit mediation.

Parties are willing to resolve their disputes when they can make educated decisions based upon a universe of known facts and legal advice. If, however, there are too many open questions, any presuit mediation will not likely be successful unless one side is desperate and needs to settle no matter what.

Please post your thoughts on this topic.