Commercial mediation is a process that parties to a dispute can undergo, which is a way of making an attempt to resolve the dispute, where an independent third party is appointed to act as a facilitator between them to help them negotiate a settlement dispute. That unbiased third party isn’t a judge. They’re not going to make a call on the proof or inform you who’s proper and who’s fallacious and who wins and who loses. They will show you how to see either party’s position and help them come to a settlement.

The process of commercial mediation

It’s a completely voluntary process. You shouldn’t have to attend commercial mediation, and if you find yourself at a mediation, you’ll be able to depart at any time. But it is a superb opportunity to have a commercial dispute case settled without the necessity for the proceedings to either, if they’ve already started, proceed and proceed at increased prices for each parties, or alternatively, have a mediation at an early stage before any litigation has started in an try to keep away from these costs beginning or running away from the parties at a really early stage.

So, it’s a form of other dispute resolution, which is an umbrella term for many strategies of attempting to resolve disputes without having to interact in court proceedings, and it is becoming more and more prevalent in companies’ minds after they’re having a dispute.

Relatively than, «Let’s have a big argument and spending a number of costs and lots of time in dealing with the dispute», «How can we get to the tip of the dispute in a quicker way and a more price-effective way?» And commercial mediation is a big part of that and an excellent way of reaching that end goal in a a lot more value- and time-efficient manner.

Do I have to attend commercial mediation?

Mediation is a voluntary process, however there may be adverse price penalties in litigation if a court believes that a party has unreasonably refused to mediate.

So, if one party to a dispute makes a suggestion of mediation, it would be very prudent, unless there’s an extremely good reason why the opposite party doesn’t need to mediate, and those reasons could also be that the other party’s case doesn’t have any merit or the value of the case concerned can be such that the costs of mediation, even attending a mediation would be disproportionate to the value of the dispute.

But, that aside, you would need to have a fairly good reason not to, not to mediate. In any other case, a court may make an adverse prices order against a party who has unreasonably refused to mediate.

So, it is a case really that the court does anticipate the parties always and all phases of a dispute to aim to reach a settlement, not necessarily through mediation completely, however the court does anticipate the parties to try to reach a settlement. And mediation, as we’ve already mentioned, is an efficient way of doing that in a well timed and price-efficient manner.

Is the end result of commercial mediation legally binding?

The outcome of mediation could be legally binding in very particular circumstances, and that is once an agreement recording the position reached at mediation in a legally binding document.

So, it’s recorded in writing and signed by those parties to the dispute. Till that has occurred, the end result of a mediation will not be legally binding, and it could be open to either party to the mediation to renege on the agreement or not enter into the agreement or seek to try and change the agreement for every in the course of the course of the mediation, up till the purpose that it is being recorded in writing and signed by the parties. And subsequently, we advise clients who’re at mediation and have gone by means of the process of reaching a settlement at mediation to strive their utmost to get that agreement signed on the day of the mediation. And sometimes, the recording of the agreement can take just as lengthy, if not longer, as to truly the parties reaching the agreement at mediation themselves.