FourthParty

FourthParty is a legal technology software-as-a-service company serving mediators, arbitrators and other third-party neutrals, along with ADR court programs and firms. The platform consolidates practice operations into a single dashboard covering booking intake and customizable availability, embeddable ADR calendars, automated party notifications and reminders, form submission and reporting, secure case-file and document access, invoicing with multi-party percentage fee splits, electronic payments processed through Stripe, collections automation, and earnings tracking and revenue forecasting.

The company positions technology as the "fourth party" at the negotiating table — a supporting participant alongside the two disputing parties and the neutral in the middle — and frames its product as complementing rather than replacing the human-centered work of negotiators. Executives have described the core problem as legacy, paper-based workflows in the legal space that could not be accessed in a remote environment, a limitation made more acute by the COVID-19 pandemic; case types handled by its users include car accidents, divorces, custody disputes and landlord-tenant matters. Beyond the software, FourthParty distributes educational content for practitioners, including guides on becoming an arbitrator, choosing a mediation specialty, selecting mediation software, and starting and scaling a mediation practice, and operates a business development function branded FourthParty U.

Founding story

Co-founder Melissa Brogdon has said she became focused on building better mediation businesses after observing the difficulties new mediators faced launching practices in the post-COVID era. She launched the company in 2019 with her husband and co-founder Gino Brogdon Jr., an attorney and mediator, to fix the workflow problems he experienced entering the mediation field.

Business model

FourthParty sells a practice-management software platform to individual neutrals, mediation firms and ADR court programs, marketed through demo requests and described as an enterprise solution for larger customers. Payments to users' clients are processed via an integrated Stripe-powered billing and invoicing layer, and the company supplements the software with advisory content and launch resources for mediators building their practices.

Traction

As of the 2022 Hypepotamus feature, the platform was hosting 1,000 active cases from negotiators across Georgia and the Southeast, with users spanning solo neutrals and larger firms. Public testimonials come from Susan W. Cox LLC, Advanced Mediation Solutions and SolveIT ADR.

Latest developments

Published resources include a 2025 guide to starting and scaling a mediation practice. The company continues to market integrations with third-party tools, including document signing for mediation agreements directly from the dashboard.