Arbitration and Mediation Services
Mediation and Arbitration are alternatives to traditional lawsuits. Filing a traditional lawsuit can be incredibly expensive. Therefore, mediation and arbitration were designed as alternatives to traditional lawsuits—in an attempt to save the parties money in resolving their dispute. Parties who submit their dispute to mediation or arbitration can represent themselves—or they can decide to hire an attorney to represent them through either process.Many contracts relating to real estate now require the parties to submit to arbitration or mediation. However, even if a contract does not provide for mediation and/or arbitration, the parties to a dispute can always agree to submit their matter to mediation or arbitration. The Residential Realty Law Firm can affordably provide such services.
Mediation
Mediation is a process where an impartial third-party (the mediator) attempts to assist other parties to solve their dispute (disputing parties). The mediator simply attempts to assist the disputing parties in negotiating their dispute in a voluntarily and mutually acceptable manner. The mediators at the Residential Realty Law Firm will assist the disputing parties to negotiate more effectively by helping all of them (a) clarify their true interests, (b) improve communication and cooperation, (c) strengthen their relationships, (d) generate options, and (e) reach sound decisions.
However, since mediation is only an attempt to assist the parties to reach their own settlement, there is no guarantee that the disputing parties will actually reach settlement. If the parties fail to reach settlement, the parties can either submit their dispute to arbitration or file a traditional lawsuit.
Arbitration
Arbitration, on the other hand, is where a neutral third party (the arbitrator) settles the dispute for the disputing parties. Arbitration is similar to the traditional lawsuit in that the parties will have an opportunity to present their arguments and evidence to the arbitrator. Like traditional lawsuits, most arbitrations are binding (however, the parties can agree otherwise). However, since many people represent themselves at arbitration proceedings, the rules of procedure and the rules of evidence are not strictly enforced. Therefore, arbitration tends to be quicker and less expensive than the filing of traditional lawsuits. Arbitration is also more confidential since the arbitrator’s ruling is not filed in the public records (unless the arbitrator’s ruling is appealed). Therefore, at the end of the arbitration process, the parties’ dispute will be resolved (unless the arbitrator’s ruling is appealed)
Med-Arb
Parties agree, prior to mediation, that should mediation fail and they reach an impasse, they will submit their dispute to submit their dispute to binding arbitration (conducted by the mediator as the arbitrator)
