How to Find a Mediator in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Originally published: May 2026 | Reviewed by Don Saunders

Anne Arundel County residents access qualified mediators through the Maryland Courts MACRO Mediator Directory, the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County’s Title 17-approved mediator roster, the Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center, and private mediation practices. 

Each channel serves a different dispute type and budget level, so identifying the correct channel before contacting saves time and avoids the cost of contacting the wrong practitioner.

Don Saunders, founder of Saunders Mediation Services, is a Supreme Court-certified mediator and Florida Court Accredited Mediator based at 722 Coybay Drive, Annapolis, Maryland 21401, serving Anne Arundel County residents in family, civil, business, workplace, probate, and elder disputes.

Key Takeaways

• Anne Arundel County residents access free or low-cost mediation through the Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center for community disputes and through the Circuit Court ADR program for cases already filed in the circuit court.
• The Maryland Courts MACRO Mediator Directory at mdcourts.gov is the authoritative government database for verifying a private mediator’s Title 17 credentials and MPME membership before hiring.
• Private mediators in Anne Arundel County handle disputes outside the court system — including family, business, workplace, probate, and elder matters — with confidentiality protections under Maryland Rule 17-105 and scheduling controlled by the parties.
• Maryland requires no statewide license to practice as a private mediator, making independent credential verification through the MACRO directory the primary consumer protection tool before hiring.
• Matching the dispute category to the correct mediation channel determines which practitioner, process, and cost structure applies to the case.

Channel 1 — The Maryland Courts MACRO Mediator Directory

The MACRO Mediator Directory at mdcourts.gov is the first resource Anne Arundel County residents should search when evaluating a private mediator’s credentials, so professional standing is confirmed through a Maryland Judiciary government source before any session agreement is signed.

MACRO — the Maryland Judiciary Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office — maintains this searchable database of mediators who have completed the foundational 40- to 50-hour training requirements of Title 17 of the Maryland Rules and who have joined the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence (MPME). 

The directory is searchable by mediator name, county, and dispute category, generating a verified list of credentialed practitioners serving Anne Arundel County.

MPME membership requires each mediator to complete at least ten continuing education hours per year, dedicate two of those hours to ethics training, and abide by the Maryland Standards of Conduct for Mediators.

 A mediator listed in the MACRO directory has met an annually renewed professional standard, not a one-time training completion that carries no ongoing accountability.

On July 1, 2025, rule changes to Title 17 centralized the ADR roster application process under MACRO statewide. Practitioners now apply directly to MACRO through a single online platform rather than submitting separate applications to individual circuit courts. 

The MACRO directory consequently functions as the single authoritative source for credentialed mediators across all 24 Maryland counties, including Anne Arundel.

Residents searching the MACRO directory filter by Anne Arundel County and their specific dispute category — family, civil, business, or workplace — then cross-reference each result against the mediator’s active website to confirm current availability and acceptance of new clients.

Channel 2 — The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County ADR Program

The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County operates a court-administered ADR program for civil and family cases already filed in the circuit court. 

The program serves two categories of cases: civil non-family matters, including contract disputes, personal injury claims, and real property cases; and family matters, including contested custody, visitation rights, parenting plan development, and separation of marital property. 

Judges in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County order mediation after a case is filed and before the matter proceeds to trial. 

Parties in a pending civil case attend both a mediation session and a pretrial settlement conference as required steps before the trial date. Family cases follow a separate track focused on custody access, visitation schedules, and parenting plan disputes under Maryland Rule 9-205.

The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County maintains a roster of Title 17-qualified mediators. Parties select a mediator from the roster and pay that mediator’s private hourly rate, or accept a court-designated mediator billed at the court rate set by the Anne Arundel County administrative judge. 

The court rate applies only when the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County assigns the mediator; parties who select their own mediator from the roster pay the mediator’s standard private fee.

The Circuit Court ADR program serves only cases already filed in the circuit court system. Anne Arundel County residents seeking to resolve a dispute before filing — or to avoid litigation entirely — require either a private mediator or the AACRC, depending on the dispute’s complexity and financial stakes.

The Circuit Court ADR Office for Anne Arundel County handles family ADR matters at (410) 222-1153 ext. 6 and civil non-family matters at (410) 222-1215 ext. 5, both located at 8 Church Circle, Annapolis, MD 21401.

Channel 3 — Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center (AACRC)

The Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center (AACRC), located at 2666 Riva Road, Suite 130, Annapolis, MD 21401, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has delivered community mediation services to Anne Arundel County residents since 1993. 

The AACRC provides free or sliding-scale mediation, funded through county grants and community donations — the only no-cost mediation option supported by Anne Arundel County government sources.

AACRC volunteer mediators conduct sessions covering neighbor disputes, landlord-tenant conflicts, family communication breakdowns, school-related disagreements, and community-based conflicts. 

The AACRC also provides IEP facilitation for families of students with disabilities, structured anger management services, and community conferencing for groups in conflict.

The AACRC is the appropriate channel for lower-stakes interpersonal and community disputes where cost is the primary barrier, and the parties do not require a credentialed private professional with specialty training. 

The AACRC is not structured to handle complex or high-stakes family mediation matters involving significant financial assets, contested business disputes, multi-party probate conflicts, or workplace harassment claims — dispute categories where the specialty credentials, Title 17 training, and Rule 17-105 confidentiality protections of a private mediator are required.

Anne Arundel County residents reach the AACRC at (410) 266-9033 or at aacrc@aacrc.info. The AACRC follows the Anne Arundel County Public School System calendar for weather-related closings and suspends session scheduling between December 20 and January 6 each year.

Channel 4 — Private Mediators in Anne Arundel County

Private mediators in Anne Arundel County serve residents who need to resolve a dispute before it reaches the court system, whose dispute falls outside the scope of free community mediation, or who require a mediator with verified specialty credentials in a specific practice category. 

Private mediation is confidential under Maryland Rule 17-105, voluntary, and scheduled at times the parties control — so you avoid the delays of Anne Arundel Circuit Court calendars and the public record exposure of litigation.

Selecting the right private mediator requires evaluating these criteria before contacting any practitioner:

Credential verification. 

Search the mediator’s full name in the MACRO directory and confirm active listing status — so professional standing is confirmed through a Maryland Judiciary government source rather than the mediator’s self-reported documentation alone. 

A mediator absent from the directory may hold legitimate credentials, but verification then depends solely on the mediator’s own records.

Practice area match. 

Maryland’s Title 17 framework mandates additional specialty training — beyond the 40- to 50-hour foundational requirement — for child custody and visitation mediation, marital property mediation, and business and technology cases. 

Anne Arundel County residents should ask each candidate what documented specialty training the candidate holds in the specific dispute category at hand, not just the candidate’s general credential tier, so the training level matches the complexity of the case.

Dual-state credential coverage. 

Residents with business interests, real estate holdings, or family members in Florida benefit from a mediator who holds both Maryland Supreme Court-certified and Florida Court-accredited mediator status. 

Dual-state credentials allow one neutral to serve all parties regardless of state residency, eliminating the cost and coordination burden of engaging separate mediators in each jurisdiction.

Case volume in the relevant dispute category. 

A mediator with hundreds of resolved cases in a specific dispute category possesses pattern recognition that practitioners with limited case histories cannot replicate — particularly in high-conflict civil mediation, multi-party business conflicts, and contested estate matters, where the sequence of concessions and the structure of agreement require accumulated situational judgment.

Saunders holds dual-state mediator credentials and serves Anne Arundel County clients across business mediation, workplace mediation, probate mediation, and elder mediation. 

Saunders brings 30+ years of entrepreneurial experience — including founding Saunders Landscape Supply, a multi-million-dollar enterprise sold in 2022 — making the practice particularly effective in commercial and partnership disputes where financial stakes and confidentiality requirements exceed what a community mediator is trained to manage. 

Schedule a free consultation to discuss whether private mediation is a good fit for your situation.

How to Compare Mediators Before You Hire

Anne Arundel County residents evaluating private mediators apply the same comparison process regardless of how the practitioner’s name was found. 

The criteria in the table below separate credentialed professionals from practitioners whose qualifications rest on self-description alone:

Evaluation Factor	What to Ask	Why It Matters
MACRO directory listing	Search mdcourts.gov/macro/mediatordirectory by full name	Confirms credential status through a Maryland government source
Title 17 training completion	Request documentation of the 40–50-hour foundational training program	Establishes the baseline for court-standard mediation practice in Maryland
Specialty area training	Ask for documented hours in your specific dispute category	Title 17 foundational training does not cover child custody, marital property, or business cases
Dual-state accreditation	Ask whether the mediator holds Florida Court Accredited Mediator status	Required for multi-state disputes involving Florida-resident parties
Annual continuing education	Ask for the hours completed in the most recent calendar year and in which topics	MPME members complete a minimum of 10 hours per year, including 2 ethics hours
Case volume by dispute category	Ask how many cases in your dispute category the mediator has resolved	Volume in the specific dispute type predicts situational judgment and agreement rates
Confidentiality framework	Ask which Maryland Rules govern confidentiality in private sessions	Mediation confidentiality in court-referred cases is governed by Rule 17-105 of the Maryland Rules

Applying this comparison across two or three candidates before selecting a mediator takes less than one hour and eliminates the risk of hiring a practitioner whose credential tier does not match the complexity of the dispute.

Which Channel Is Right for Your Situation?

Matching the dispute category to the correct mediation channel is the decision that saves the most time and money in the Anne Arundel County resolution process. Apply this framework before contacting any provider:

Dispute Type	Recommended Channel	Reason
Neighbor, community, or low-stakes interpersonal conflict	AACRC — free community mediation	No-cost access; volunteer mediators trained for interpersonal disputes; no credential requirement for parties
Court-filed civil or family case	Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County ADR program	Court-ordered process for pending cases; Title 17-qualified mediators on approved roster
Contested custody, parenting plan, or child support dispute before filing	Private mediator with Title 17 custody specialty training	Rule 9-205 specialty training required beyond the 40–50 hour foundational credential
Divorce mediation, including marital property division	Private mediator with Rule 17-205(c) marital property training	An additional 20-hour marital financial training is required under Rule 17-205(c)
Business, commercial, or partnership dispute	Private mediator with documented business experience	Financial and operational context required; community mediators lack specialty training
Probate or estate conflict	Private mediator with probate specialty credentials	Complex asset structures and family dynamics require a credentialed specialist
Workplace or employment conflict	Private mediator with workplace conflict training	Employer-employee power dynamics require specialized process management and neutrality
Multi-state dispute involving Florida-resident parties	Private mediator with dual Maryland and Florida credentials	One credentialed neutral eliminates the cost and coordination of two separate jurisdiction-specific practitioners

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find a mediator in Anne Arundel County, Maryland? 

Search the MACRO directory at mdcourts.gov filtered by Anne Arundel County and dispute type. For free mediation, call the AACRC at (410) 266-9033. For private mediation, call Saunders Mediation Services at (703) 973-0098.

What is the difference between the AACRC and a private mediator in Anne Arundel County? 

The AACRC provides free community mediation for interpersonal and neighbor disputes conducted by trained volunteer mediators. Private mediators handle complex family, business, probate, and workplace disputes with confidentiality protections under Maryland Rule 17-105.

Does the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County require mediation? 

Civil and family cases filed in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County are typically ordered to complete mediation before trial under Title 17 of the Maryland Rules.

Is mediation confidential in Anne Arundel County? 

Private mediation in Anne Arundel County is confidential under Maryland Rule 17-105, which bars disclosure of all session communications in any court or administrative proceeding. AACRC mediation maintains confidentiality in accordance with the center’s own protocols.

How much does a private mediator cost in Anne Arundel County? 

Private mediator rates in Anne Arundel County vary by practitioner and dispute type. Court-designated mediators charge the rate set by the Anne Arundel County administrative judge. Private practitioners charge their own hourly rate, typically split equally by the parties.

What credentials should a private mediator in Anne Arundel County hold? 

A private mediator in Anne Arundel County should hold Title 17 foundational training, an active MPME membership verifiable in the MACRO directory, and specialty training matching the dispute category. Dual Maryland and Florida credentials apply to multi-state cases.

Can I use mediation to resolve a dispute before going to court in Anne Arundel County? 

Yes. Private mediation in Anne Arundel County is available before filing, after filing, or after a court order. Resolving a dispute before filing eliminates court costs, exposure to the public record, and circuit court scheduling delays.

How do I contact Saunders Mediation Services in Annapolis? 

Saunders Mediation Services, LLC is located at 722 Coybay Drive, Annapolis, Maryland 21401. Free consultations are available by calling (703) 973-0098 at any hour, seven days a week.