Arbitration and Mediation


          During the course of a case, your lawyer may ask you if you want to settle by making arbitration with the opponent party. Before taking such decision, you should ask yourself if you know all the consequences of agreeing to arbitrate. By asking yourself a few questions, you can make an intelligent decision as to whether or not arbitration of a dispute will be in your best interest.

          The goal arbitration is to reach an agreement between two or more parties in order to resolve a dispute outside of the court system. The parties agree upon a third party as an arbitrator who will act as a judge and jury. After giving the parties the opportunity to present their side of the story and to present any relevant documents or other evidence, the arbitrator will decide take his decision. However there are usually no set rules as to how arbitration is conducted. It is typically left to the agreement of the parties.

          There are two types of arbitration: binding and non-binding arbitration. A binding arbitration generally means that the winning party can use the arbitration to a court of law and enforce it if the losing party does not comply with the terms of the decision. Conversely, Non-binding arbitration refers to a situation where neither party is bound to comply with any decision by the arbitrator.
What is the advantage of arbitration? First, this process serves as a forum to resolve disputes outside of the judicial system. Arbitration can be faster and eases than lawsuits.

          As you do not need to have a lawyer, arbitration tend to be lesser expensive too. Both parties will just have to pay the arbitrator. Furthermore, arbitrators can consider a lot more facts and circumstances than a judge or jury. Arbitrators typically try to be practical and often look at compromise as being inherently fair. Thus, the likelihood is that an arbitrator's decision will award something to at least one of the parties.

          However arbitration can also have drawbacks. Above all both parties do not have any guarantee that arbitration will be a fair process. Once a decision is rendered in a binding arbitration, the parties are generally stuck with that decision and the losing party does not have any right to appeal

          It turns out that arbitration can be a good thing, but this is not always the case. Bear in mind that you are potentially giving up the very important rights to a trial before a judge and jury so there should be good reasons for you to want to agree to arbitrate.

Arbitration and Mediation

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