Ashman Ba Law Firm

We constantly negotiate for our clients

 

 

Often agreements contain mandatory arbitration clauses. The rationale is simple. Litigation can be very expensive. Accordingly, the firm always looking for a way to reduce costs while still maintaining the same excellence that our clients have come to expect from our firm.

 

Also, often times disputes will be mediated. This is often the case with foreclosures and real estate disputes. Often times mediation actually forces opposing counsel to consider a settlement and end months of back and forth litigation.

The main difference between Arbitration & Mediation is that Arbitration is binding. In Mediation the sides can choose to walk away and not reach an agreement. In business contracts, arbitration is favored to mediation as there is a definitive decision made by the arbitrator that is non-appealable.

Arbitration

Here the parties submit evidence to the arbitrator, a neutral person who hears all the evidence presented by each party and then renders a binding decision. (If the amount in dispute is small, parties generally advocate for themselves without hiring an attorney.) Both parties must agree in advance to abide by the arbitrator’s finding–something that is sometimes even written into a contract before there ever was a dispute. (Only a few standard real estate contracts contain this clause, although it’s common in contracts between individuals and businesses in some industries.) Arbitration is typically conducted outside of the court system, typically in the offices of the arbitrator. The arbitrator is selected by both parties and the fee is generally shared by each. Because an arbitrator’s ruling cannot be appealed, problems are resolved much more quickly than with a lawsuit.

Mediation

Mediation is an effort to reach an agreement that satisfies both parties. It is a non-adversarial process, where each party (typically in separate rooms) speaks in confidence to the mediator, who tries to help the parties reach their own resolution to the dispute. In some fields, like divorce, the court requires that mediation be undertaken early in the process; other times mediation is done outside the court system in a mediator’s office. Unlike arbitration, mediation does not result in a binding decision unless a mutually satisfying agreement is reached by the parties; if not, they can still go to litigation. For this reason there is little downside to attempting a resolution via mediation. As with arbitration, the mediator’s fees are generally split by the parties.

Contact us today to discuss how the firm can help your business resolve its contractual issues through either mediation or binding arbitration.

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