Commercial Dispute Mediation in Florida

Commercial Dispute Mediation in Florida

Mediation is a process of ‘negotiation’ facilitated by a trusted neutral third party who does not hold any decision-making power. Like any other negotiation, it is a voluntary process. The mediator, who is an experienced legal professional, facilitates an agreement. Towards this end, he or she may don many hats during the course of mediation including acting as a convener, an educator, a process advisor, a communication facilitator, a translator and a catalyst. The mediator designs the mediation process and prepares the counsel and parties for productive negotiation. The core people involved in the conflict such as the financial, managerial, and technical and other experts who could contribute significantly to the resolution of the dispute are brought together. Floor charts, pie diagrams, spreadsheets etc that aid the discussions and bring clarity, form part of the mediation. However, it is important to note that the mediator is a neutral third party and cannot render legal advice. In order to ensure informed decision making by the disputing parties with a complete understanding of their legal rights, parties are encouraged to have legal representation during the mediation. Mediation is a confidential process. In court-annexed mediation, confidentiality is ensured through the rules. In private mediation, confidentiality is ensured through an agreement. Parties are free to terminate the process at any time. Thus, with the assistance of a neutral third party, parties find their own mutually acceptable terms of settlement through self-determination. Click here to know more about Commercial Dispute Mediation in Florida.

How mediation works? The first casualty of any conflict is communication. Once communication is hampered, negotiation is rarely productive. Mediation is the only dispute resolution process that rebuilds communication and returns parties to productive negotiation. The mediator encourages the parties to talk freely in a safe, confidential and non-judgmental environment. Perspectives are heard. The positions with which they come to mediation and the mass of other material that support these positions are understood. Parties in conflict often operate at the level of justification, retaliation and arguments and overlook the underlying needs, concerns, goals and priorities which drive their legal positions. The mediator helps parties to access these deeper levels and negotiate outcomes that can be more beneficial to all concerned. Here we discourse about Mediation in commercial disputes. Contract breaches, between a company and its supplier, for example, are the most common cause of commercial conflict. In Florida, the usual thing is that the matter ends up in the hands of Justice. However, the German Chamber of Commerce has been successfully applying extrajudicial mediation processes for ten years, that is, private agreements between the two parties in which an independent negotiator intervenes. Now, they offer this service to the business community in general. “In times of crisis, with more litigation and payment problems, it is more efficient to go to commercial mediation than to go to trial, where in addition to being more expensive the commercial relationship suffers. In addition to the high probability of success of these procedures, an agreement is reached in seventy-five per cent of cases according to the British Center for Effective Conflict Resolution, mediation concludes on better terms than litigation or other extrajudicial processes such as arbitration. “If the two parties sign an agreement, it means that the two get something. Another of the main advantages of mediation says the Chamber’s team of negotiators, is that it usually ends more quickly and at a lower cost than if the parties go to court or open an arbitration process.

Here is a list of individuals and organizations that offer Commercial Dispute Mediation in Florida. Commercial mediation is an out-of-court method of conflict resolution. Unlike arbitration, where an expert in the matter opens a procedure similar to a trial to decide which of the parties is right, in mediation, an independent negotiator meets with some and with others to try to reach a consensual agreement. The profile of the professional in Florida usually corresponds to that of a lawyer; although sometimes it seems more like a psychologist, point out the mediators of the German Chamber of Commerce. However, they explain, some business schools are beginning to specialize their students in this matter, which has become its own branch in other countries, such as the United States. This article analyzes the alternatives available to a foreign company to resolve its trade disputes in Florida. The lack of judicial independence and the tendency of the popular courts towards the protectionism of local companies, make it preferable to resort to Alternative Dispute Solutions. An American Judge once said, ‘The Business of Business is Business and not litigation’. Today, many countries acknowledge that mediation should be the first protocol for dispute resolution, especially in the commercial sector. International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) earlier had ‘Arbitration Rules’ and ‘ADR Rules’. Over time it recognized that 90% of the cases filed under its ‘ADR Rules’ used the mediation process. Hence in 2014, ICC changed its ‘ADR Rules’ to ‘Mediation Rules’ and included other ADR processes like conciliation and expert neutral evaluation in its ‘Mediation Rules’. Currently, ICC has ‘Mediation Rules’ for all other ADR processes and ‘Arbitration Rules’ for Arbitration. The ICC has also underscored the efficacy of mediation by recording a settlement rate of eighty per cent for mediation and resolution of the dispute within an average period of four months. Click here to know more about Commercial Dispute Mediation in Florida.

Commercial Dispute Mediation in Florida

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