Services

Mediation

Mediation and Facilitation offer attractive, cost effective and speedy processes for businesses to craft individual solutions to disputes and to find constructive ways to take forward potentially controversial strategies.

Mediation is a process whereby an independent neutral helps parties find solutions to problems that meet their respective needs. This will usually involve a mixture of meetings between the mediator and the individual parties and meetings between all the parties together with the mediator. Our mediation service is specifically directed to disputes between and within businesses. Provision can be made for mediation in a contract or by the parties can chose to try it once a dispute has arisen either before or after starting the litigation or arbitration process.

For many disputes mediation offers a number of advantages over litigation, arbitration or even in some cases a traditionally negotiated settlement.

• It is confidential to the parties and information exchanged in the course of the process cannot generally be used outside those proceedings such as in a court case.
• It is speedy - depending on party availability a mediation can be set up within a few days and most take only one, perhaps long, day of meetings to resolve although further meetings may be needed if additional information is required to understand a situation or proposal or in especially complex cases.
• It is cost effective, in large part because of the speed of the process and the potential to avoid the disruption of extensive discovery procedures.
• The parties are always in control as to what matters can be discussed and whether or not to accept any proposals that are made. The mediator has no authority to impose a settlement. Creative, pragmatic solutions may be possible beyond the monetary awards usually made by a court. The mediator, having heard in confidence the concerns and goals of each party may see common ground that was unknown to the parties and their lawyers.

We have a particular interest in intellectual property and international co-operations and believe that disputes in those areas are especially suited to resolution by mediation by reducing the time to settlement, allowing the parties to reach a solution for all countries in a single process, avoiding unfamiliar and costly court proceedings in different jurisdictions and perhaps most importantly, avoiding the risk of an unexpected court ruling as the parties craft the solution themselves and do not have to go ahead unless each is satisfied with the proposal.

Bonaccord will undertake the mediation of most commercial disputes. To find out more look at our FAQ page or contact us directly to talk through how we might be able to help you. We also produce an occasional newsletter containing information on mediation and facilitation techniques if you would like to receive this please contact us at enquiries@bonaccord.eu