What is mediation?
In these increasingly litigious times, disputes are an everyday occurrence for most businesses. Many are resolved without redress to outside assistance, some are referred to solicitors at varying stages in the course of the dispute and others are abandoned due to the adverse impact, not to mention the cost implications, that conducting a litigation may have on your business.
Mediation is a flexible and entirely confidential process whereby the parties in dispute are assisted by an independent third party, the mediator, to resolve their dispute. In short, it is a facilitated negotiation process.
The parties themselves attend, and participate fully in, the mediation. No solution is imposed upon the parties and one of the strengths of the process is that the parties themselves decide the outcome and are only bound by it if they both (or all) agree to it. It is a wholly voluntary process and, if a solution cannot be reached, the parties are free to walk away without their legal positions being prejudiced in any way.
Contacts: Alan Eadie, Partner awe@bto.co.uk T. 0141 221 8012