Commercial Disputes

Your organisation may find itself in dispute with suppliers, customers or other organisations. It may be a dispute about services or goods provided to the organisation. There may be a disagreement about debts or payments, or an argument over building work, or damage caused to property owned by the organisation. Many of these disputes can be solved without going to court. Legal proceedings are costly, stressful and time-wasting. They can divert the resources of the organisation from its main task. We can provide alternative dispute resolution for simpler disputes.

Mediation

Mediation is a process where people in conflict are brought together before an independent and skilled person with a view to identifying the issues in dispute, and finding ways to resolve that dispute

Sometimes legislation makes its compulsory for parties in dispute to attend mediation, for example in retail lease or franchise disputes. In other cases, courts may order litigants to attend mediation before going to trial. Many commercial contracts require the parties to engage in mediation before commencing legal proceedings.

There any many advantages in referring commercial disputes to mediation. These include significant savings in costs and time. The mediation is confidential. The process reduces stress and gives each party some control over the outcome.

Arbitration

Arbitration is a more formal way of resolving commercial disputes. The parties appoint a person as arbitrator and that person will make a decision which is binding on the parties.  An arbitration is similar to a court proceeding, but has the advantage of being faster and more flexible. It can be confidential. Generally, the arbitrator will require each of the parties to briefly set out their claims in a written document, and will then ask the parties to provide evidence to support their claims. That evidence may be oral or written. It may include documents like contracts, emails, bank records and photographs. In some cases evidence may be given by an independent expert. The arbitrator reviews the evidence then makes a decision. The decision is generally contained in an award. This can be enforced by a court.