Whenever a business is faced with a legal problem, it can be tempting to just let attorneys handle everything. However, there are times when attorney services are not only unwarranted, but they are also a waste of time and money. Business mediation can be a much more appealing solution for some business legal matters. Mediation occurs when two or more parties have a dispute and they take it to a third party for resolution. The mediator is not an attorney who works for either party. Here are three benefits to using mediation for your business's legal needs.
1. Lower cost.
Everyone knows that taking a legal matter to court can be expensive. Not only do you have to pay fees to file motions and other legal documents, but you also have to pay whatever fee your attorney charges.
When it comes to business law, it can cost more to take the case to court than it is worth—especially if the case drags on for months, or years, because that can cost your business thousands of dollars. With mediation, costs go down significantly since you are basically just paying the mediator's fee and don't have to worry about paying attorneys to represent you.
2. Unbiased opinion.
When you go to a mediator to handle your business's legal issue, all parties involved can be assured that the mediator isn't working in favor of either party. Even if the mediator is paid for by a single party, they are still an uninterested third party who is only there to offer an unbiased opinion and to see that all sides come to some sort of an agreement.
That is not the case if you allow your attorneys to handle things. The reason is that each party's attorney will do everything they can to get the most favorable settlement for their client. This can lengthen the time it takes to come to a resolution because neither attorney is willing to compromise if it means their client won't get the everything they ask for.
3. More control over the outcome.
Because of the nature of mediation, it allows the parties to have more control over the outcome. If the case goes to court, then you will either have a judge or a jury deciding everything. With business mediation (such as is provided by Jeffrey Cohen Mediation), all parties can express their desires and, hopefully, come to a compromise so a speedy resolution can be achieved.
If one or more of the parties is reluctant to compromise, the mediator can find ways to make the compromise more appealing to them as well. Even if you don't get every single thing you ask for during mediation, all parties who resolve their legal problems this way usually walk away happy with the results.
