About

Peace, justice, and stronger everyday institutions.

Common Ground exists to make dispute resolution accessible, calm, and affordable — long before a courtroom ever needs to be involved.

Our mission

We're aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 — Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Most disputes never belong in a courtroom, and yet millions of people either endure them silently or escalate them at great cost. Common Ground exists for everything in between.

The team

Common Ground began as a Babson Summer Study project focused on real interview research with disputants, mediators, and law students.

A

Amar

Product & Strategy

K

Kevin

Engineering

M

Manuela

Design

E

Eric

Operations

L

Lexi

Community

How we vet mediators

Credential verification

Bar admission, law school enrollment, or completion of a recognized mediation training program.

Background checks

Every mediator, without exception, before they take a session.

Ongoing review

Continuous rating monitoring and periodic reviews. Poor performance means removal from the platform.

About legal legitimacy — honestly.

Common Ground provides facilitated agreements, not legally binding arbitration. A written summary from a session is a mutual understanding between both sides — it does not, on its own, carry the force of a court order.

Agreements reached through Common Ground can be formalized with a lawyer if both parties choose. And if a dispute isn't resolved here, you retain every right to pursue formal legal action.

This is intentional. We believe the best outcome for a minor community dispute is a resolution both sides actually agreed to — not one imposed on them.

Privacy & confidentiality

Sessions are confidential. We don't share your dispute details with third parties. Uploaded evidence is stored securely and deleted 90 days after your session ends. Reviews are attributed only by first name and last initial.