Alternative Ways Of Handling Disputes - Mediation

Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution and benefits parties of a dispute of two or more. A mediator, who acts as a third party will help the parties come to their own solution or settlement, or if settlement seems far away, mediators will often help show the parties what might be a more fair or reasonable solution. More commonly if all parties are happy with the agreement, mediators will be happy with it as well.

Mediation has the benefits of structure, organization of timetables and flexibility of settlement which negotiation or even litigation falters. Mediation is a completely private and confidential process which makes it more attractive to big companies trying to stay out of the public eye to avoid any damage to their reputation. Obviously there is no mandatory provision in law to state that parties must go to mediation, but if a case goes to court, a judge may look down on parties that did not have a reasonable reason for considering mediation as an alternative way of handling the dispute. In mediation, agreements that are reached and signed by all parties of the dispute will be legally binding, so it is just as authoritative as litigation and a judge's conclusion.

Mediators are all trained to use the same structure to the mediation process, but various mediators adapt the process to use different techniques to improve communication between the parties, with the aim of helping the parties reach an amicable agreement which ends the dispute there and then. These techniques will depend on the mediators skills, confidence and experience and the individual parties as well. It must be remembered that a mediator needs to act completely impartially and cannot be biased to either party.

The mediation process is used by parties in all various kinds of disputes including, commercial, workplace, family and community. Mediators can even be used to mediate between unions and corporations. There are also some major advantages to using mediation as an alternative way to handling disputes. It is a less expensive route to go down than litigation. However, even though a mediator will charge for their services, the process itself takes far less time than any legal route chosen. This would mean that the less time that has been taken to come to an agreement, the less money that will be sent on the mediator's fees and costs.

I am a legal writer covering advice on topics of law including business law, for further text and similar works visit mediation or contact a solicitor today.

For more legal advice and information, and for free legal resources I suggest you visit lawontheweb.co.uk.