When a Case is Right for Mediation?

Mediation is a process that allows to resolve a wide range of disputes. But how to determine when the case is right for mediation?

We have prepared a list of criteria that will help give an understanding in this matter. Thus, a dispute is mediatable if any one or several of the following criteria are met:

Business interests

-    settlement of the dispute requires to attend to the parties' business interests in addition to legal merits while the resolution only on legal merits will not bring the necessary result

Confidentiality

-    disclosure of a conflict situation may cause economic and moral losses for the business and the people involved in it

-    successful dispute settlement in court or arbitration requires disclosure of sensitive information

Reputation

-    a party values its reputation of “a reliable company or partner”, and the use of mediation as a less confrontational approach is consistent with this idea

-    loss of a litigation case can damage the reputation of the parties

Relationship

-    parties have an ongoing relationship, and their break-up will lead to losses in the future, including economic ones (for example, disputes with key customers and suppliers)

-    parties are conducting a joint project, and it is important for the parties to achieve the result (for example, construction of a building, joint management of intellectual property rights, other project work)

-    disputes and conflicts between team members in companies (between management bodies, their members, TOP-managers, etc.)

-    disputes in family business, where the resolution of a legal dispute does not solve the conflict within business and family

-    when there is no dispute or conflict, but the parties are interested in effective discussing future cooperation to avoid conflicts in the future: joint business, investment, business merger, etc.

Cost and Time Sensitivity

-    party needs a relatively quick settlement of the dispute

-    party’s budget does not allow the costs associated with arbitration or litigation

Formal criteria

-    when a party does not have enough legal grounds to claim in a dispute, but has moral grounds for this.

A mediator is the right person to make a final conclusion on the mediatability of the case following the communication with all parties to the dispute.

Note that antagonistic demands of the parties do not mean that the dispute may not be successfully mediated, since mediation involves working with the interests of the parties, thus allowing such disputes to be resolved.

The need for a judicial precedent may sometimes mean that the dispute may not be mediated, but it is not an absolute attribute.

If you have any questions or need advice, we invite you to contact our mediators.