Sheridan McMahon is a Nationally Accredited Mediator and Accredited Specialist Family Lawyer. Sheridan was admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW on 24 February 2006.

In 2025, Sheridan shifted her focus from litigation to mediation with a firm view that mediation should be treated by lawyers and parties alike as a first resort rather than a last resort to resolution in Family Law matters.

The adversarial nature of litigation, drawn out over years, causes irreparable damage not only to parties involved in litigation, but their families and the children who are so often caught not just in the middle of the conflict but have a front row seat.

Mediation isn’t about proving that one party is right and the other wrong, nor is about proving that one is a “better” parent or financially superior. It’s about navigating different view points and perspectives to reach a negotiated compromise.

Mediation is one of the only pathways in dispute resolution that the parties have a say in the outcome and can design their own resolution.

For lawyers, imbued with a traditionally risk-averse mindset, there is an inherent gamble in “the witness box” and we’ve all had horror moments when unbridled verbiage gushes from your client or their witnesses.

In 2025, let’s shift the paradigm and resolve to resolve by mediating.