Law firm launches mediation service for people and businesses locked into commercial disputes

Sheffield law firm Wake Smith has launched a new service designed to settle company litigation disputes through mediation.

Commercial litigator Mike Doherty is now a qualified mediator and an Associate Member of the Civil Mediation Council, allowing him to provide specialist civil/commercial litigation mediation for parties locked in civil/commercial disputes.

In his role as mediator, he will act as a neutral third party and use his experience and knowledge in civil/commercial disputes to assist parties in resolving their disputes and reaching mutually acceptable solutions.

This new service for the firm enhances Wake Smith’s existing expert litigation offering which covers business disputes, property litigation and debt recovery cases ranging from multimillion-pound multi-party actions to matters involving a few thousand pounds.

Doherty, 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.

“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 such 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, Doherty would firstly gain a full understanding of both the facts and issues but also what was most important to the parties.

He added: “It is essential to be a good listener and then to facilitate dialogue and focus matters on the parties desired outcomes rather than their legal positions. 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.”