People generally consider using mediation to deal with a dispute to avoid a lawsuit or terminate legal proceedings because compared to a lawsuit, mediation is a faster, more confidential, and a less expensive way to deal with conflict.

Mediation is appropriate when parties have given up on negotiating a settlement directly with one another, or their counsel have attempted to negotiate the matter and have reached a deadlock; and the parties hope to resolve the matter in a process less painful and efficient than litigation.

A mediation can usually be scheduled within a few weeks, or maybe a month or so depending on the matter, and availability of the parties and mediator; and some mediations, depending on matters at issue, can take even less than a day to resolve.

In most businesses an employee’s time is usually more valuably spent on working to increase the profitability of the business rather than on collecting material for discovery, or appearing for depositions, or as a witness at trial. If it is the business owner who is charged with the responsibility dealing with matters arising through the course of litigation, time spent on litigation, might be more preferably spent on increasing the profitability of the business, or perhaps on leisure activities.

Further, most often there is significant benefit to remaining on good terms with the opposing party because the dispute has likely arisen out of a business transaction that the parties, at least at one time, believed would be beneficial to both of them. Therefore, even if they do not plan to do business again in the future, there is some benefit, particularly if they are working in the same industry to, not ‘burn bridges”.

Other benefits can include:

1) The fact that even if counsel are appearing representing parties, the parties can be directly engaged in negotiating the settlement.

2) The neutral mediator will usually view the dispute more objectively than the parties, or even lawyers involved in the case, and may be able to assist the parties in understanding how the case might be viewed by a judge or jury.

3) The mediator can assist the parties in creating alternatives ways of resolving the dispute that they might not previously have considered.

4) Since the parties save time and money through avoiding continued litigation, they are generally more satisfied with the outcome.

5) Satisfaction with a settlement, and having some control over the outcome, generally means that the parties are more likely to honor obligations under the settlement agreement, than they are likely to immediately honor a judgment awarded against them. Even if a party wins at trial, there is always the risk that the case will be appealed, or that execution proceedings will be necessary to enforce the judgment.

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