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Why has Mediation blossomed in the way it has? |
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In recent years the Civil Courts, which hear disputes between businesses and people (the ‘parties’), have been increasingly busy. This has meant that people wanting to resolve disputes through the Court can expect to have to wait months before they can get a hearing. Many judges have, increasingly, been advising applicants to the Court to find alternative means of resolving their disputes - the most used of which is Mediation. For business people the most important feature of mediation is that it enables them to continue a business relationship which they may have spent years building up. Indeed, our experience is that at the conclusion of a successful mediation meeting the parties, with the help of a Disputes Resolved accredited mediator, have ‘cleared the air’ and often emerge with a closer business relationship than they had when they entered. Together they have found solutions which they can live with.
Disputes Resolved have been providing independent mediation services since the 1990s. We are one of the longest established providers. We are independent. Based in Lewes, most of our business comes from the South-east, but we have a panel of mediators which covers the whole country and people and businesses who have a dispute should contact us.
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.What are the advantages of mediation over litigation (going to court)? |
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Mediation enables the parties to meet together with an independent mediator to resolve their dispute(s) with minimum cost, quickly, with confidentiality, less stress and minimum inconvenience.
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What will it cost? |
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We use a scale of fees based on a meeting lasting a day and on the size of the ‘claim’. The fee scale may be seen in Mediation Fees and Conditions on this website. Each party pays the same sum.
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How does that fee compare with the cost of going to court? |
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Much less expensive. Even if you employ a solicitor to attend and help you at the meeting, ‘on the day’ it will be cheaper because the procedures in mediation are much simpler and a solicitor does not have to prepare a detailed statement of claim, or call expert witnesses, both of which are often very time-consuming and consequently expensive.
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How long will it take to arrange a meeting? |
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We have arranged meetings within a week but usually we find it takes about a month. It depends on how quickly the parties can prepare their Wish Lists and agree a date for the meeting.
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What is a Wish List? |
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Ideally a short list of ‘one line, bullet-point wishes’, (see ‘Wish lists’ on this website). These are wishes that the party would like to come true by the end of the meeting. Both parties, (or all if there are more than two parties), prepare their lists and send them to Disputes Resolved by an agreed date in advance of the meeting. The object of the meeting is to reach a compromise acceptable to the parties. We provide the mediator with a copy of the wish lists in advance of the meeting and we exchange lists between parties.
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Where is the meeting held? |
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Wherever the parties choose - they arrange the venue. We have held meetings in solicitors’ offices, hotels, rooms over a pub, the living room of a couple who were dissatisfied with a builder’s work, the kitchens of two adjacent farm houses, with the mediator hopping over the fence between them, you name it.
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What is your success rate? |
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The success rate which is often quoted for mediation is 75% but when we do our sums we always discovered our success rate is in excess of 80%.
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It can’t all be good news, what is the downside? |
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The parties must wish to resolve their differences and be willing to compromise with the other party. Mediation is about seeking solutions which are acceptable to both, or all, parties. The mediator is there to help the parties reach the best possible agreement acceptable to both. S/he does not make an award, the parties reach the best agreements they can ‘live with’. If the parties are not happy they can walk away at any time. But experience shows that mediation works.
One could go on, but anyone considering ways of resolving a dispute, having their ‘day in court’ (wherever they choose it to be and at a time of their choosing), with a better than 80% opportunity of success they should ‘think mediation’. They will have questions to ask, so we advise that they make a list and visit this website where they will almost certainly find most of the answers. If not, they can email us at enquiries@disputes-resolved.co.uk with their list of unanswered questions or call us at 01273 480108 with questions to hand and we will answer them. We are the experts.
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