As many of you will now know the Federal Attorney General recently introduced the Civil Dispute Resolution Bill 2010. If made into law the Act will require prospective litigants to take “genuine steps” to resolve their legal disputes before they will permitted through the gates by the case managing judge to continue their litigation war. They will need to detail what steps they have genuinely taken to resolve their dispute out of court and without resort to litigation.
This new law will herald a new dawn for mediators and mediation. We need to be ready. In my view the new law, if enacted, is heading in the right direction.
A few days ago I successfully resolved a dispute between two business people who had done business together for over 10 years before falling out during the Global Financial Crisis. They were clearly heading down the path of litigation and if not averted could have looked forward to over 12 months of fun in the courts and probably both ended up over $100,000 each out of pocket. That is nothing unusual in commercial litigation arising out of a broken business relationship.
The two parties, and their lawyers, opted into my strict protocol for dispute resolution that covers both things to be done BEFORE mediation as well as at the Mediation.
The Mediation went to about 3pm. Settlement was accomplished and the parties were able to return to the Joint Session Room and sit opposite each other and shake hands.
This is what Mediation is all about. The path to success in Mediation is entirely different to the path to success in Litigation. In Mediation it is often the case that parties can be reconciled as well as settle their dispute. This hardly ever happens when people go down the path of Litigation.
In my next post I will provide some examples of “genuine steps” to resolve a legal dispute.
Until then…..Christopher Whitelaw
Mediator
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