Mediation
What is Third Side Mediation?
Third Side Mediation provides an independent, impartial mediator to help parties reach a bespoke solution for their commercial or family disputes.
William Ury developed the concept of “the third side” – the idea that people on both the “inside” and the “outside” can help resolve the conflict. Taking “the third side” means:
• Seeking to understand both sides of the conflict – the other two sides of the dispute resolution triangle.
• Facilitating a process of co-operative negotiation
• Supporting a fair solution that meets the needs of interested parties
How Commercial Mediation can benefit your business.
Mediation is very different from the court process. Increasingly courts are recognising the benefits to parties of resolving their disputes through mediation rather than litigating them. The reports of the Lord Chief Justice’s Review Group into Civil and Family Justice (September 2017) detail those benefits, which include:
• Mediation is an entirely voluntary process. Unlike court, the parties have a say in the process and agree the outcome and have ownership of both.
• Mediation is a more efficient and speedier means of resolving disputes than litigation.
• Mediation is cost-effective when there is a successful outcome.
• Mediation enjoys a significant success rate.
• In mediation, there is often an opportunity to preserve or even strengthen business or family relationships that could otherwise be at risk of damage as a result of the adversarial nature of the court process. While this is important in a commercial context, it is particularly important in mediations between separating parents.
• The mediation process offers greater flexibility and is capable of delivering creative, flexible outcomes that go beyond those that can be delivered by a judge.
• Anything said in the mediation process by the parties is confidential and without prejudice to any ongoing legal proceedings. The details of the dispute are private, unless all parties and the mediator agree to waive confidentiality or disclosure is required by law.
• Similarly, within the mediation process itself, the mediator will only disclose information obtained from a party with the permission of that party.
What is the job of a Mediator?
Mediators don’t ‘fix’ things but provide people with an environment and a process that helps them to fix a problem themselves and to find solutions that work.
Mediation can at times be challenging. It requires a commitment from the parties to do their best to identify and focus on the issues, to explore and share different perspectives, to generate and consider options with an open mind, and to rise above any emotional component of the dispute in order to reach a sustainable outcome that meets the needs of interested parties.
No-one benefits from an unresolved conflict. Ongoing disputes keep a part of us stuck in the past. There can often be a price to pay in terms of our emotional well-being, as many of us find conflict stressful. Mediation and conflict coaching help people negotiate conflict with the assistance of an independent, impartial third party. They can then relegate the dispute to the past and move on.
Fees
Fees are individually quoted in each case and will reflect the type of dispute, the type of mediation and, where relevant, the value of the dispute. Please contact Third Side Mediation to find out more.