Ordinary people think about judiciary as the only way to settle disputes that arise in their lives, lawyers and legal experts however, especially in the commercial law and corporates law know that this is incorrect, big companies do not have the luxury to argue every dispute in front of a court, and risk wasting a lot of time, recourses, and most importantly, its relationships with other companies and clients to win cases. Companies often relay on alternative dispute resolutions to settle their disputes quickly, quietly, without wasting time, and without damaging its reputation or the relationship with the other party. If it is so important, then what is alternative dispute resolutions?
Negotiations, Mediation, Arbitration, also known as alternative dispute resolutions, have proved their effectiveness and efficiency in settling disputes without going to court, without consuming a lot of time, and with the best outcomes possible, individuals also can relay on these alternative resolutions to settle disputes, however it is more suites companies, organisation, and business-related matters.
Generally speaking, in order to make the biggest benefit of these methods, it should be used in this order: Negotiations, Mediation, Arbitration, conflicting parties however, have the choice to pick the method that suites them.
The first step and the most favourable is: Negotiations which is Bargaining process, between two or more parties to discover a common ground and reach an agreement to settle a matter of mutual concern or resolve a conflict. Negotiations often have a straightforward formula: two negotiators represent and have certain authorities given to them by conflicting parties, meet together, their main duty is to discuss the matter of conflict in order to reach the best outcome possible for the two parties( win-win situation ), once an agreement is reached and signed, the dispute is over.
Mediation is the second, most favourable step, which is “ facilitated negotiation “ that means the parties, usually accompanied by their legal advisers, meet with a mediator in attempt to reach a settlement. The mediator is an independent third party whose role is to facilitate negotiations and settlement between the parties. And again once a agreement is reached and signed, the dispute is over.
Mediation sessions often take at most 24 hours to finish, whereas Negotiations often take less than that, maybe hours to finish.
The last step is arbitration which is like a private judiciary. Conflicting parties choose either a private arbitrator, who will do the role of judge ( analyses evidence, compares between them and makes a compulsory, unappealable decision which parties are obligated to it ), or an arbitration centre, which is more favourable due to the professional services and high-experienced arbitrators list to choose from.
The main factor that make arbitration is more favourable than judiciary is less time consuming. As it mentioned before, these methods are suited more for business and commercial matters, where fast procedures are required, which is why arbitration must be conducted in a time-saving manner, away from publicity which is also extremely important to maintain companies’ good reputation.
On the other hand, the main factor that makes negotiations and mediation is more favourable than arbitration, is that in the both of them, conflicting parties reach to an agreement willingly, without a compulsory decision from anyone, that plays a major role in maintaining a goo d relationship with the other party and make it possible to engage in business with him in the future, in contrast to arbitration and judiciary where disputes are settled with a compulsory decision from a judge or an arbitrator, which is may damage the relationship with the other party and make it difficult to engage in business with him in the future.