When I mediate, I have very specific requirements (rules if you will) for a “best and final” offer or demand. Having seen an attorney (or two or three or more) throw the “best and final” threat out there when he or she really does not mean it and actually expect a counter to it, I have established a policy for best and finals. Here’s the rules for a best and final when I mediate your case. You tell me the offer or demand, and I present it to the other side with the request that they respond only with a yes or no. I tell that other party that no counteroffer is expected so there is no need to give one. When I get the yes or no, I go back to the attorney who made the best and final and tell him or her whether it was accepted or rejected. If rejected and that attorney asks whether there was a counter, I say that none was requested, expected, or provided. A rejection of a best and final should, and when I mediate does, end the session for that day. Are there exceptions to my rules? Of course there are, but a rule is not much of a rule if there are too many exceptions. So far, with regard to my best and final rules, I have not encountered the need for an exception.