Alternate Disputes Resolutions: Mediation and Arbitration
Going to trial is not the best option to resolve disputes. The majority of people use Alternative Dispute Resolutions or ADR, these procedures are less formal and controversial than going to trial to attain an agreement. Besides going to court people has the possibility to use other procedures, the most commonly used are mediation and arbitration.
An important advantage of ADR is that it saves time and money. Since there are rules and regulations that have to be followed in a trial, the procedure is more formal and sometimes people miss the opportunity to tell the story as they want. With ADR the outcome is frequently more positive, it prevents ending relations between persons, companies and organizations.
Mediation is the process in which parties find a solution that involves a neutral and impartial person who advises and assists them in the conciliation of their conflicts.
It is important to describe the role of the mediator in the process. The final decision is always going to be decided by the parties, however, the mediator helps as an advisor in different interests, identifying issues, avoiding communication problems and preventing confrontation between parties. At the beginning of the process, the mediator’s purpose is to find a solution to stay away from litigation. The mediator has to be confidential with all the information received through the process and cannot utilize this information for any proceeding in the future against parties involved. The mediator has to listen to each party separately in order to find a solution based on documents and information not previously defined by the parties. Mediation is mainly for minor disputes and is commonly used in any work-environment. For example when I was working as a Property Management Administrator in an International Real Estate Investment firm, most of the times we found mediation as the best tool to use between landlord and tenant. Even though the company works
An important advantage of ADR is that it saves time and money. Since there are rules and regulations that have to be followed in a trial, the procedure is more formal and sometimes people miss the opportunity to tell the story as they want. With ADR the outcome is frequently more positive, it prevents ending relations between persons, companies and organizations.
Mediation is the process in which parties find a solution that involves a neutral and impartial person who advises and assists them in the conciliation of their conflicts.
It is important to describe the role of the mediator in the process. The final decision is always going to be decided by the parties, however, the mediator helps as an advisor in different interests, identifying issues, avoiding communication problems and preventing confrontation between parties. At the beginning of the process, the mediator’s purpose is to find a solution to stay away from litigation. The mediator has to be confidential with all the information received through the process and cannot utilize this information for any proceeding in the future against parties involved. The mediator has to listen to each party separately in order to find a solution based on documents and information not previously defined by the parties. Mediation is mainly for minor disputes and is commonly used in any work-environment. For example when I was working as a Property Management Administrator in an International Real Estate Investment firm, most of the times we found mediation as the best tool to use between landlord and tenant. Even though the company works
References: Cavico, Mujtaba. (2008). Legal Challenges for the Global Manager and Entrepreneur. Chap. 5 McFraw-Hill Cross, Miller. (2004). West’s Legal Environment of Business (5th ed.) Thomson. p. 61-81 JAMS- The Resolution Experts. http://www.jamsadr.com/ Saush – Blogg. http://blog.saush.com Why would you prefer arbitration over litigation? (2006)