The Watkins Firm has decades of experience serving as lawyers for business mediation and arbitration in San Diego and throughout California.  We represent clients in all forms of business, real estate, construction and civil or residential disputes.  Our unique approach to litigation ensures your business dispute is handled in a timely and cost-effective manner.  From the outset of each case, we work to develop a thoroughly documented chronology of events and a mastery of associated damage.  These tools allow the Watkins Firm to gain the attention of opposing parties and their counsel and open effective, leveraged negotiations.  We are able to resolve the vast majority of our business disputes through effective negotiation, the  fastest and least expensive way to resolve any business dispute in California.

There are cases where there is a matter of principle in dispute or one of the parties is intransigent in their position(s).  Business mediation and arbitration are almost always faster and less expensive options than pursing your case in a San Diego court.  Make no mistake, the lawyers for business mediation and arbitration at the Watkins Firm prepare every case as if it is going to trial.  This preparation, along with our proven track record of success at trial, ensures opposing counsel and the parties they represent know you mean business.  The genuine threat of trial is a powerful leverage to get opposing parties to the negotiating table and a key to legal representation in mediation or arbitration in San Diego.

Mediation is a much less structured environment where Watkins Firm attorneys contribute ideas, and influence the process to protect our clients while ensuring a fair resolution.  Mediation involves an independent third party known as the mediator.  The mediator should have extensive experience in the area(s) of dispute and in mediation itself.  The mediator helps the parties to more clearly understand the genuine issues associated with the dispute, find common ground and help the parties to develop options which ultimately lead to the settlement of part or all of the dispute.  The recommendations of the mediator are not binding.

Arbitration is a much more structured environment, and the ruling of the arbiter is binding and cannot be appealed unless one can prove fraud or collusion.  In arbitration, the parties agree upon a third party with extensive expertise and experience in not only the issue(s) in dispute but the law as well.  The arbiter gathers evidence, hears testimony and ultimately renders a decision known as a “finding or “ruling.”  While some elements of the legal process are in place many of the discovery related activities and legal motions are waived providing a process which is much shorter and less expensive than trial.

Pro Tip: “…you bring in former superior court, “Judge Jones,” and he’s looking at us, the lawyers, and he knows BS when he sees it. And we don’t want him to think that we’re full of BS, just because our clients want us to fight hard. So he’s going to have (strategies for) controlling the lawyers from over-valuing this dispute and from over-posturing, just being aggressive for the sake of impressing our clients.

And he’s going to go back and forth and have the purpose of settlement on his mind, which is what we both want. I’d say 50% of these cases don’t settle at mediation, but after a good mediation a month or two later, it’ll settle because of the mediation. Some mediators actually call us a month later, when we came so close and say, ‘Dan, what can I do? Do you want me to call the other side?’ I’ll say “yeah, good idea. Call the other side.’ And then he’ll call the other side. And they and their clients have calmed down. They’re relaxed and we’ll settle. We have to get to that 95% somehow. So there’s a lot of different ways using the ADR formula with the court has alternative dispute resolution systems, using them to your benefit. Understanding them gives you the best result in 95% of the cases, which is how they resolve.

Arbitration is when you have an agreement in your contract that says disputes are to be resolved by arbitration and it’s usually quicker and cheaper, but you waive the right to a jury trial and the arbitration process itself can be very expensive. But in the long run, waiting to go to trial for two and a half years and waiting for a judge who has an overburdened docket can be just as risky. So arbitrations are great. They cut to the chase and you really don’t have a lot of time for dramatics. You have to have accurate law and facts when you go in and it’s usually decided by your arbitration brief because the (arbitrator) knows when they see a case that has no merit or has great merit.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

The Watkins Firm lawyers for business mediation and arbitration have a strong, proven track record of success here in San Diego and across California spanning decades. We invite you to review our podcast Episode 11 – Resolving Business Disputes as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.   Learn how we can help to resolve your dispute in the shortest possible time frame and in a cost-efficient manner.