About Mediation

Mediation is a voluntary, non-binding and without prejudice process in which a specially trained third party intervenes in a dispute and attempts to bring the parties together in a settlement agreement. There are no strict procedural rules and the process is” without prejudice” which means that any matters discussed cannot be used if the matter is subsequently litigated in a Court or Tribunal. However, if agreement is reached then the parties will be asked to draw up an agreement between themselves and this will become binding on the parties.

The litigation process can be time consuming and costly and there is no guarantee that even a successful party will recover all of its costs. No party to a dispute really wants to take part in stressful litigation accept in certain circumstances. Mediation provides an alternative informal dispute resolution process.

Mediation is a cost effective means of resolving disputes which can speed up the process – mediation sessions can often be set up very quickly and disputes can be resolved within a day.

The parties have the opportunity to communicate their side of the story to the neutral mediator and communications between the parties are improved. The Mediator will assist the parties to focus on the real issues in the dispute and to consider the strengths and weaknesses of their case. Most importantly the parties will take control of the resolution of their dispute.

Mediation is suitable for all types of disputes from a small value dispute through to high value commercial disputes.