Why Mediate?
Members of Tisher Liner FC Law are experienced in representing clients in Mediations, conducting hundreds of Mediations for a period exceeding twenty years.
The question on everyone’s lips: why do people choose to mediate instead of going down the road of litigation or other such proceedings? He sets our various reasons:-
1 – Costs
Participating in Mediation when matters are subject to Court proceedings (or such proceedings are contemplated) is a cost-effective manner in which to resolve a dispute. The obvious alternative is to conduct litigation which is extremely expensive, requiring significant preparation, documentation, appearances and all the associated steps relevant to conducting a Court case.
2 – Time
Most Court cases require a considerable amount of input by way of time, seeing Lawyers, Counsel, attendances at Court etc. The time required to devote to a Mediation would usually involve considerably less preparation and usually the matter is resolved in a Mediation in one day, as opposed to even a short case in Court which may run over many days.
3 – Certainty
Although achieving a result by way of settlement or otherwise in a Mediation is not compulsory, by participating in a Mediation and having a matter resolved, there is certainty as to the outcome. Any Court proceeding will depend on the presentation and interpretation of evidence (including Experts), a finding by a Judge as to such facts and than applying the Law and these two variables can have outcomes which may not be favourable. The Mediation process enables a result to be achieved and at the end of the process each party knows the outcome with certainty.
4 – Making your own decisions
Most people prefer to make their own decisions. The Mediation process permits a party to a dispute to make a decision about an outcome and, even if the outcome is not precisely that which a participant would have liked at the commencement of the process, at least a participant has made the decision. Experience shows that most people prefer to be in a position of making their own decisions and living with such decisions afterwards.
5 – Flexibility in the outcome
Parties to a Mediation are able to negotiate outcomes in a manner which may not be ordered by a Court. There are no right or wrong outcomes, only those that the participants may adopt. The result may be outside any prior preconceived outcome. If the parties decide to agree, even if such outcome was not what a participant would have originally contemplated, then the matter is finalised and everyone can get on with their usual business and life activities.
Accordingly, most parties prefer to avoid Court proceedings and would prefer to participate in a Mediation because of costs, time, certainty and being able to make their own decisions.
