We assess whether arbitration or mediation is appropriate to the nature of the dispute and conduct the preparation and negotiation stages with care.
Arbitration
Legal support in national and international arbitration proceedings.
Mediation
Conduct of mandatory and voluntary mediation meetings.
Strategy
Joint assessment of evidence, negotiating position and likely outcomes.
The route by which a dispute will be resolved is often not a matter of choice for the parties. In some fields an application to a mediator is a precondition for bringing proceedings; in others the arbitration route has been fixed in advance by a clause in the contract or by a specific statutory scheme.
Arbitration in insurance disputes
The Insurance Arbitration Commission is a separate route established for disputes arising from insurance contracts, and it concludes more quickly than court proceedings. Admissibility, however, depends on the claim having been properly put to the insurer and having produced no result. Where this preliminary stage is skipped, the file is returned without the merits being examined.
What is actually discussed at the mediation table
The purpose of mandatory mediation is not to end the dispute in a single session but to make visible what the parties are really arguing about. In files approached without preparation the parties believe they are negotiating over an amount, whereas what usually prevents settlement is not the amount but a difference of view about which heads the claim is made up of. A mediation meeting is therefore prepared for as a statement of claim would be.
The principal matters we handle in this field:
- Preparation and conduct of applications to the Insurance Arbitration Commission
- Mandatory mediation in commercial disputes
- Representation in mediation in employment disputes
- Assessment of arbitration clauses in contracts
- Preparation of settlement texts and minutes
Because the route determines how long a result will take and at what cost, this decision is taken at the very outset of the file.