Call for greater use of mediation in business disputes
The Chief Executive of Scotland’s leading mediation business, Core Solutions Group, John Sturrock, has heralded the uptake in the use of mediation to resolve commercial and business disputes and urged greater use by the private and public sectors in Scotland.
“In recent months, we have seen a significant increase in the number of disputes resolving through mediation. Across many sectors and industries, people are finding that some of the most intractable difficulties are being dealt with in relatively short periods of time and at significantly lower cost than the alternatives of court and arbitration," he said. "Most matters which come to mediation are resolved in a day or at most two, giving the benefits of huge savings in management time and financial outlay, while giving the added benefit of privacy and informality. In mediation, those involved are encouraged to work out for themselves the solutions which make commercial sense and which, where appropriate, preserve or renew contractual or other relationships.”
Core’s senior mediators have been active throughout Scotland and in London, Dublin and elsewhere in the UK recently. Disputes range from banking to employment issues, intellectual property and IT to construction projects, management conflicts to share valuations, local authority and health service issues to public policy debates and family business to farming partnership problems.
Mr Sturrock added a call that the Scottish Government include provisions for mediation in its procurement contracts, as the first port of call if conventional negotiations break down.
“Having a dispute adjudicated by a judge or arbiter has its place and may often be best used as a last resort”, he commented. “However, when there is going to be much greater pressure on resources in the next few years, we need to encourage effective and efficient dispute resolution in Scotland. Mediation offers a way for parties with a problem to address it speedily and co-operatively and to make sure they really understand where the other side is coming from. What we find is that there is a solution to most disputes and what people need is a structured framework within which to find it.”