In Australia parties to family disputes must participate in a dispute resolution conference prior to a contested hearing. The parties may attend a court-based conciliation conference (‘public mediation’) or a mediation conference conducted by a private practitioner (‘private mediation’). In the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2), at the time of this study there was a ‘soft rule’ according to which cases in which the value of assets in dispute is greater than AUD 500,000 were referred to private mediation. The findings in this paper suggest that private mediation was more effective in achieving settlement for both high- and low-value cases. If the courts’ aim is to increase settlement rates, increased emphasis should thus be placed on private mediation. However, there are circumstances in which public mediation remains most appropriate.