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Initial Contacts with the Disputing Parties 49 terial or an interested secondary party. After careful examina- tion of the dispute, the mediator takes the initiative to contact one or more disputants and offer his or her services. Entry of this type is complicated by the fact that the mediator may have difficulty building credibility with disputants, may lack their psychological commitment, may be subject to ethical issues involving association of his or her intervention with "ambu- lance chasing," and will need to consider the possible effect of the intervention on the coalescence of power among the par- ties involved. Gerald Cormick and Jane McCarthy, mediators of an en- vironmental dispute involving flood control and land use along the Snoqualmie River in Washington State, used this approach. They entered the conflict on their own initiative and assisted the primary parties in identifying and including additional dis- putants. "In determining whether mediation would be accept- able to the disputants, Cormick and McCarthy discovered who the key participants were by asking everyone involved: `Can you name 10 or 12 persons who if they could agree on some- thing, would have stature and influence enough so that you, who are in disagreement, could reasonably support them and any agreement they might reach?' Those named most often be- came part of the group that would meet with Cormick and McCarthy to work out a compromise" (Dembart and Kwartler, 1980, p. 47). This uninvited form of entry is often the only one avail- able to mediators who perceive that they may be helpful to dis- putants who may not be aware of mediation as a means of dis- pute resolution. More will be said about targeting parties and entry in Chapter Five. Appointing a mediator is another means of entry. In insti- tutionalized labor disputes, mediation is often legally required before the parties can proceed to other means of dispute reso- lution, and mediators are appointed by state or federal agen- cies. There are some interpersonal and community disputes in which government agencies may mandate the process, appoint mediators, or do both. In the marital conciliation court system of California, for