MEDIATION
Mediation is an out-of-court dispute and conflict resolution method in which the parties to the conflict try to develop their own conflict solution with the help of a neutral but expert third party.
Advantages
- Mediation is a fast and inexpensive procedure and can be started within a few days.
- If successful, mediations are significantly less expensive than court proceedings.
- Mediation reduces conflict costs and focuses on the future.
When is mediation suitable?
Mediation is particularly suitable when the parties, on the basis of common interests, for example in an existing or potential cooperation, prefer a compromise of some kind to litigation, or simply shy away from the enormous costs, the effort and the endless duration of proceedings.
Preferably in situations that involve legal risks for both sides, i.e. that take place in a grey area or promise an uncertain outcome, mediation offers enormous advantages over the largely “mechanical” and formal legal disputes. While opportunities may arise under the care of a judge to resolve a dispute by way of settlement, even in the best case scenario, it often takes several meetings and a myriad of paperwork and attorney hours to get there.
It is also important to understand that lawyers make a living from disputes and therefore only support out-of-court dispute resolution in rare laudable exceptions. All too often, the ladies and gentlemen of the guild will reassure you of your position and talk you into an argument, emphasize the prospects of success and marginalize concerns about losing the case, but as soon as the power of attorney is signed and the other side submits the first document with its arguments, suddenly more defensive tones are heard and the legal merry-go-round begins to spin.
Mediation is particularly promising when one of the parties to the conflict does not feel understood or its arguments have not received the expected attention and argumentative appreciation, and the mediator succeeds in initiating an overdue communication process that helps both sides to move towards each other.
How does mediation work?
Mediation is superior to the traditional legal process when it comes to better understanding the arguments of the other side and placing them in a broader context, not just the purely legal context. The opportunities and risks of a legal dispute can be assessed and weighted more neutrally, and equally for both sides.
Law and justice are not congruent. Paragraphs and legal gibberish create many small and large pigeonholes from
Black
and
White
, from
Yes
and
No
but the situations from which “disagreement” arises are usually more complex and finely tuned than lawyers can grasp with their terms and methods. Here mediation can help to find a solution that is equally fair or perceived as “sufficiently fair” for both sides, quickly and unbureaucratically.
Very often the tone also makes the music, small gestures can hold a great symbolism. We look for solutions based on a holistic view and empathy – taking into account as many personal, business or psychological constraints as possible. In principle, legal routing cannot do this.
Mediation takes place in first in confidential one-on-one meetings or small groups of the initiating party. «
Off-the-Record”
sensitive topics and possible solution strategies can be outlined and discussed with each other in a free brainstorming session.
brainstorming
process, before the other party is also separately involved and confronted with the arguments.
Finally, the conditions and intermediate steps leading to the solution are recorded and a kind of settlement agreement is concluded, which is accepted as binding and signed by both sides.
