Sheffield-based Wake Smith Solicitors has unveiled a new mediation service aimed at resolving commercial disputes outside the courtroom.
The service, spearheaded by experienced commercial litigator Mike Doherty, is designed to offer businesses a more efficient and less adversarial way to settle litigation.
This new service for the firm, enhances Wake Smith’s existing litigation offering which already covers business disputes, property litigation and debt recovery cases. The firm has handled cases ranging from multi-million-pound multi-party actions to matters involving a few thousand pounds.
Who will lead Wake Smith Solicitors’ new mediation service?
Mike Doherty, now a qualified mediator and an Associate Member of the Civil Mediation Council, will be leading the mediation services. Mike, who has been working closely with UK200 Group on this project, said: “Mediation is a great forum and opportunity for disputing parties entrenched in their positions and in deadlock, to move forward and reach a settlement.
“Mediation can re-open dialogue and bring people back to the negotiating table. It often also leads to parties gaining a much better understanding of the underlying issues and the opposing party’s perspective, which in turn increases the prospect of movement and compromise.
Why choose mediation?
Mediation is becoming a more popular choice. Recent revisions to Parts 3 and 28 of the Family Procedure Rules allowed the court to stay proceedings and encourage parties to engage in non-court dispute resolution (NCDR) including mediation. This appears to have rippled outwards to other corners of the law; Hall Brown Law announced their new mediation offerings earlier this year.
“There are many advantages to resolving matters through mediation rather than litigating all the way to trial. For example, since whatever is stated in a mediation is confidential, it provides the parties with the opportunity of being entirely candid and frank with each other without the risk of potentially undermining their positions.
“Also, with mediation the parties have flexibility and control over the outcome of their dispute and any agreements reached. They can agree to creative solutions that would not be available for a Judge to order via the Court process.”
As the mediator, Mike would firstly gain a full understanding of both the facts and issues but also what was most important to the parties. He added: “I am not there to adjudicate but to help the parties reach an agreement by themselves and in turn avoid very costly, time consuming and quite often emotionally draining litigation.
“Although most mediations are successful, should no agreement be reached on the day, the parties usually find the process has nevertheless been very helpful and worthwhile having given them a much greater understanding of the issues and positions in a very short space of time.
“This often leads to a settlement shortly thereafter. That said, nobody can be forced to settle, and a binding settlement is only reached once a settlement agreement has been signed by all the parties.”
For more information, interested parties can contact Mike Doherty directly at Wake Smith Solicitors on 0114 224 2048.
Image: Wake Smith Solicitors
Josie Miller
Josie Miller is Editor of Yorkshire Legal News. She welcomes comments and questions.
