Why should you consider business mediation to resolve a business dispute in California, and how can the San Diego business dispute resolution attorneys at the Watkins Firm protect your interests while helping to settle disputes quickly and in a cost-effective manner?  When a business becomes involved in a dispute or litigation most parties are concerned about the time, cost and contingent liability associated with a lawsuit.  It is important to understand that the Watkins Firm brings more than 40 years of proven experience and strategies to your side of the equation in a business dispute.  We are able to resolve the vast majority of these cases effective leveraged negotiation.  We employ a unique litigation management strategy which is designed to accomplish your goals while resolving the issue quickly and efficiently.

In some cases the parties simply have substantial differences or separate positions based upon matters of principal.  In these cases it is prudent to consider business medation to resolve a business dispute.  Mediation is an environment where we (as your attorneys) have the ability to maintain influence on the process while impacting the ultimate outcome in favor of our clients.  In mediation, a neutral third party with expertise in business and the specific issues at the heart of the litigation will serve as a mediator between the parties.  The mediator will meet with each party separately and review underlying contracts and other information and evidence that is relevant to the issue(s) at hand.

The job of the mediator is to establish a cooperative, productive atmosphere where the parties can calmly assert their positions and voice their concerns and goals.  The mediator works to help the parties to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their case, find common ground and identify several potential solutions to resolve the dispute at hand.  Our attorneys guide our clients in this process and contribute to the constructive conversation while providing recommendations and insight based upon our decades of business litigation success and experience here in the San Diego region.

Pro-Tip: “Absolutely. There are mediators for construction defects, complex litigation, shareholder disputes, mediators who have had more experience in the specific area of the dispute at hand. It’s also reputation of the mediator as the right type of disposition. Now, if you’re a client is not the kind of person who wants to have someone put them in a chokehold maybe you don’t go to that aggressive mediator, but every attorney in our office has experience with lots of mediators in town. There are lots of good ones. We really like the former judges, you know, experienced men and women from the bench turn out to be wonderful mediators that get problems solved in difficult situations.

What are the advantages of settlement conferences and mediation, as opposed to waiting for arbitration or trial?  The cost, the cost of going to court, the risk of losing or the risk of catching a judge or a jury in a bad mood that day or an arbitrator who just doesn’t get your kind of business or your kind of dispute. I mean, there’s a risk there. I had a trial once, for my own parents back in the nineties where the judge was completing his last trial on the bench. It was a bench trial and he literally fell asleep much of the time during the three week trial. And it took us six months to get a verdict back from him where a law clerk had to go read the transcript and help him finish his last trial. He was in his early eighties and luckily we won or my own parents would’ve probably thrown me out!  Litigation is a risk. Whoever thinks it’s not is a bit crazy.

If mediation isn’t successful you’re going to go to either arbitration or trial. And as they say, that’s when the hammer comes down, that’s when you tell the other side, I’m not bluffing. If we don’t resolve this, I’m going to take everything the law gives me in the form of damages or vice versa. I’m not going to give you anything because I’m going to use the law to deny you all your rights either way. That’s when people put their grievances on paper in legal form and get it into some kind of court or arbitrator’s office, then you have a year and a half to wait or two and a half years to wait while you beat each other up on who’s telling the truth and who’s not telling the truth.  This is what makes business mediation a better alternative in many cases.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are involved in a business dispute, business litigation or a lawsuit it may be prudent to consider business mediation to resolve a business dispute and move ford.  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 about our unique approach to business disputes and the reasons to consider business mediation to resolve a business dispute or lawsuit.