MEDIATION

Mediation is a voluntary, confidential, informal, and cost-effective dispute resolution process in the presence of an impartial third-party, a mediator, who is often a person appointed with the agreement of the disputing parties, or by a court. A mediator often takes on the role of “coach” and “voice of reason” to encourage the disputing parties to reach a non-binding settlement based on factors that may not have anything to do with facts, evidence, or application of law to facts or evidence related to the dispute. The disputing parties are encouraged to participate, in good faith and in forthright manner, in the dispute resolution process. Even if a compromise cannot be reached, participation in a dispute resolution process can assist disputants in narrowing issues of the dispute to allow them to hold further settlement discussions on their own or at another mediation session.

ARBITRATION

Arbitration is a non-judicial process for the settlement of disputes where an independent third party – an arbitrator – makes a makes a decision that is binding.

Arbitration is a dispute resolution process wherein an arbitrator hired jointly by the disputing parties to resolve a conflict pursuant to agreed terms and conditions of an agreement to arbitrate. The arbitrator makes a binding decision based on facts, evidence, and applicable law. Depending on the nature of the conflict and its resolution and subject to applicable statutes, an arbitrator’s decision can be subject to appeal to a court. Like mediation, arbitration has similar advantages over the adversarial resolution process of a court, such as, the need for confidentiality of a conflict and its resolution, the ability to participate in the dispute resolution process, including the selection of the mediator or arbitrator, and, in comparison to the court adversarial process, a shorter time frame to reach settlement or binding resolution. Unlike mediation, arbitration is more formal than mediation but less formal than the traditional court adversary process and arbitral awards are binding.

MEDARB

A Med-Arb dispute resolution process is a contractual arrangement with terms and conditions agreed by an arbitrator and the disputing parties to resolve the conflict as follows: the dispute resolution process starts as a mediation; if no mediated settlement is reached, the dispute resolution process continues as an arbitration; and the arbitrator shall make an arbitral award.