Mediation Finds Favour

Did you miss it?  Mediation Awareness Week in early November may have passed you by, but mediation of commercial disputes is very much at the top of lawyers’ agendas these days.

Mediation saves money by cutting down time spent in Court and the cost of employing judges and court officials. So the Government Department for Constitutional Affairs is trying to broaden awareness of mediation and catch the attention of the general public.

Mediation is a non-binding process in which an impartial third party, the mediator, helps parties in dispute reach agreement. The mediator has no power over the parties and makes no decisions.  The mediator controls the process and tries to set up a framework within which a sort of a controlled negotiation can take place.  The process can be very creative and many settlements involve issues which formed no part of the dispute, but make sense because they add value and create an outcome which both sides can live with.  The process helps to preserve business relationships and can even repair damage and restore trust between the combatants.

Mediation can be arranged at any time, before or even after Court proceedings start. Either way, the process itself is usually agreed to be confidential.

Despite considerable improvements to Court procedure in recent years, litigation (and arbitration) can take a long time and be very expensive. Most mediations can be concluded in a day (or even a couple of hours) at a fraction of the cost. Judges encourage litigants to try and settle their disputes. Often mediation is the best way of doing that, and is, at the very least, worth trying.  Judges will usually stay (in other words stop) proceedings for a few weeks to allow the parties to consider mediation, even if one party is reluctant to do so.  

Mediation has proved remarkably successful. In the Birmingham Court Scheme 83% of commercial (non family) cases which went to mediation were either settled at, or soon after, the mediation.  So it is well worth considering if you find yourself in a dispute.

December 2005