How to Resolve a Civil Dispute Without Going to Court

The vast majority of civil disputes are settled without a Court or Tribunal having to make a decision. It is obviously preferable to avoid the time, expense and stress of protracted litigation so how is this best achieved?The first method is through negotiation between the parties’ legal representatives after the solicitor for one party sends the other a letter of demand. However, if this fails to resolve the matter then there a number of dispute resolution methods available. The most popular method is mediation.

Mediation is a process by which an independent mediator helps the parties in a face-to-face meeting identify the issues in dispute and develop options to reach an agreement.The mediator is there to facilitate an outcome not to make a decision. Mediations work because each party gets to have their say about both legal and non-legal issues. They generally have about an 80% success rate.

March 2019