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Benefits of Mediation

• Cost-effective, affordable solution - Saves time, financial, social and emotional costs. In commercial or workplace disputes, significant savings can be made by avoiding costs associated with productivity, staff turnover and opportunity loss. Emotional and financial costs of being in the legal system and costs of settlement are reduced significantly. Costs are established and agreed upon before proceeding. All parties share the fee for mediation services, which are considerably less than litigation.
  
  
• Flexible and informal process – Mediation can often be arranged on short notice and be terminated or suspended at any time. Mediation can occur prior to or during litigation, or after judgment is rendered.
  
  
• Fast and efficient – Disputes are often settled within a few hours and most mediations generally settle within weeks from commencing the mediation process rather than months and years that can occur with expensive litigation. Mediation often results in clarification of the issues and promotes continued negotiation, even if agreement is not reached initially.
  
  
• Certainty - Decision-making power remains with the parties, allowing consensual problem solving. This provides the parties with the certainty of a negotiated outcome rather than the indeterminate ‘lottery’ type of outcome associated with litigation.
  
  
• Empowering & Fair – Parties have a greater degree of control over the outcome by being directly involved in the resolution of the dispute and negotiating their own settlement. Mediation offers the highest level of participation for the parties concerned of any alternative dispute resolution process. Each party has the opportunity to have their ‘say’ and have their concerns/needs addressed and retains the right to withdraw at any time. The Mediator provides a fair and objective process in a controlled, supportive environment for negotiations.
  
  
• Confidential - The process maintains privacy and confidentiality, which means personal and corporate reputations can be preserved. Public knowledge of a dispute can cause even more damage especially if the media or high profile parties are involved. Mediation provides the opportunity to work issues out in private. Important relationships with customers, employees, creditors, suppliers, family or neighbours often become strained if a dispute becomes public. Discussions between the mediator and each party are confidential, increasing the prospect of resolving the dispute.
  
  
• Improves communication & preserves relationships between the parties and enhances the likelihood of continuing their relationships. Can assist in avoiding grandstanding, power-plays and deadlocks by providing a level playing field. Mediation assists in reducing hostility and increasing understanding whereas litigation is an adversarial process likely to exacerbate ill-feeling, heighten conflict and mistaken assumptions between the parties. Mediation allows the parties to work collaboratively towards a mutually beneficial solution.
  
  
• Prevents negotiations from getting bogged down by moving the parties from taking adversarial positions to focusing on interests, mutual understanding and finding common ground. Unlike litigation where the goal is to ‘win’ against the opposing party, mediators assist the parties to restore co-operation and relations by focusing on the present and future, not the past.
  
  
• Positive Outcomes - Provides for the exploration of an increased range of options and ‘win-win’ solutions by focusing on what can be changed now to resolve the dispute and what can be done in the future to prevent a reoccurrence. Parties are free to formulate how they wish to proceed for the future and express the ground rules for this in an appropriate agreement. Mediation facilitates the identification and exploration of all the issues in the dispute, including those that may not be revealed in litigation or arbitration due to the application of rules of evidence.
  
  
• Not required to go to court or pay for legal representation. Mediation works with or without lawyers. Parties are not bound by legal rules, which assists in developing and reaching agreement.
  
  
• Concludes with a written agreement that is signed by all parties. An agreement that is detailed and committed to writing ensures all parties involved clearly understand what was decided in mediation. This relieves the parties of relying on their memories of how things were resolved and enables them to refer back to their written agreement for any clarification needed in the future.
  
  
• High success rate and satisfaction with the agreed solutions – Mediation has a very high success rate and agreements are generally enduring because the parties themselves have formulated the agreement. There is an increased likelihood of voluntary compliance with the terms of any settlement agreement reached between the parties as the outcome has not been imposed on them.
  
  
• Convenient – Time and location arrangements suit the parties.
  
  
• Nothing to lose – Even if the parties are not able to settle a dispute completely, the key issues involved most likely have been clearly identified. If however the mediation is unsuccessful, the parties are still able to take other measures, including legal action to resolve the dispute. In this case, the parties will likely benefit from refined discovery, early witness evaluation and simplified preparation for trial, significantly reducing litigation costs.