whether there are adequate measures that would be available during mediation to adequately address the handicap which the imbalance presents. For example, are B’s language deficits so significant as to render mediation unfair? Are they able to be addressed by the presence of an interpreter or support person or his lawyer? It is more productive to focus on the issue of capacity, rather than the issue of power imbalance as such. The key consideration with respect to the history of domestic violence in the above example is whether fear and domination will render the wife unable to freely negotiate. Endeavouring to quantify the power imbalance may be a somewhat abstract and unhelpful exercise. Substantive power imbalances relate to the perceived respective bargaining strengths and weaknesses of the parties. These derive from the legal and factual merits of their arguments, and circumstances which might compel parties to settle. Substantive power imbalances do not render mediation unfair or inappropriate in the procedural sense.2 They should, however, be realistically taken into account by the parties. In the above example, party B would be wise to temper his expectations in the realisation that his legal case is weak, and party A would be wise to temper her expectations in the realisation that although she is keen to settle party B is not. Sometimes there may be a linkage between process and substantive power imbalances. For example, the resources possessed by one party but not the other might give the former both process and substantive power. Such a well resourced party might be able to afford a phalanx of lawyers, unlike the other party, and as well be able to drive a hard bargain due to being in a stronger economic position to weather an ongoing dispute. Despite the source of the power being the same, namely superior resources, the power imbalance plays out both procedurally and substantively. In this example, it is still meaningless if not impossible to weigh the two categorically different types of power, process and substantive, despite them emanating from