Benefits of mediation

‘After 45 years in litigation, I have seen so much money spent, stress caused and delay encountered. Reaching settlement at the door of the court is entirely unsatisfactory.’

- Sir Henry Brooke

Mediation is an informal process and there are no requirements to instruct solicitors, barristers or experts. It emphasizes the resolution of disputes without the need for protracted litigation.
 

Range of remedies

• Desire for an apology
• A good reference
• Help finding a new job
• Recovery of property
• Money
• Repair a relationship

Only two of these remedies are available from the court because it can only do two things; award money or order someone to do or not to do something. Mediation provides a range of alternate remedies, not just one amenable to a legal solution.

Unlike litigation, mediation actively involves the parties in the dispute resolution process ensuring control and decision making remains in their hands.

Mediation enables the parties to communicate, via the facilitator exactly what they hope to achieve from the process and allows for creative solutions which a Judge would not be able to make.

This approach enables parties to preserve or restore good relationships and clearly goes to the heart of Lord Woolf’s emphasis on co-operation rather than adversarialism. Even if settlement is not reached through the mediation, it may assist by narrowing the issues in dispute between the parties reducing the time for litigation.
 

Mediation can potentially offer a quicker, more direct route to dispute resolution. Many businesses have recognised the procedural time difference between litigation and mediation and therefore utilise mediation as an alternative method to resolve disputes that have the potential to drag. For individuals, the whole litigation procedure often appears daunting. However, mediation provides the forum to enable and empower parties to arrive at their own decisionswhich will be legally recognised by the courts.