Companies and contracting partners

Corporate mediation is suitable for all types of problems where the business activity of at least one of the involved parties is affected. In a typical starting situation a communication breakdown between parties has occurred or an open or hidden conflict exists. Possibly, one of the parties is already preparing to have the frustrating situation decided by the courts or has been seeking advise from a legal counsel.

The party ready to sue usually assumes a considerable risk in seeking a court decision, because in most cases the outcome of the lawsuit cannot be predicted with certainty. Also, any lawsuit ties up considerable resources of the suing party such as time, money, and energy, and it is not even certain that the suit will eventually be won and that the matter will be brought to the desired success.

That is why it usually is worthwhile to search for another possibility to resolve problems or conflict before undertaking expensive and risky legal steps in order to soon be able to continue to go after one’s own business or activities successfully and without disturbances.

In corporate mediation, with the support of trained, experienced, and professional mediators, interests can be discussed and solutions can be achieved out of court that serve all parties involved, with which all can live, respective can continue to work. Even if the parties have already involved attorneys, mediation can still be carried out in their very presence and with their additional assistance.

Examples of corporate mediations

IT business

Significantly more than 50% of all IT projects fail. Litigation not only represents the failure of the project but also leads to losses for all involved.
By way of mediation, undesired consequences can be avoided.
Mediation makes it possible for a stalling project to continue, or to find the fastest possible and most cost-effective solution between the parties.

Trading company

A and B were originally friends and established a joint trading company (public limited company) several years ago. In the course of various restructuring and financing rounds, several small shareholders joined in. A and B each have 30% of the stock and the voting capital. In the meantime, a conflict has arisen between A and B that even affects their private relationships. For a number of reasons, now, A and B want to take legal action against each other. Some of the issues in this situation could be, for example, to protest a decision make by the shareholders meeting, to enforce receivables of the Corporation against a shareholder, to hold a member of the administrative board responsible for what he did or did not do or to prevent libel or slander or to retaliate against it. As a rule, however, not only do shareholders lose time, money and other resources in such conflicts, but the company itself, its employees and its contractual partner are also losers.

Construction Industry

A construction project is finally agreed upon after several delays. Through the delays, the relationship between the client and the general contractor has become significantly strained. When the client complains about numerous deficiencies, communication between the two parties breaks off completely. Naturally, the client or the contractor can start a legal dispute. Possibly, they will conclude the legal process in one to two years with a settlement in court. Since, in the event of a settlement, both sides will have to make considerable compromises, it can be assumed that in the final analysis neither will the general contractor get all of the money demanded, nor will the client be able to enforce his claim for repair work. Most likely, costly expertise would also be required that would prolong the legal procedure and make it more expensive. Alternatively, if the parties could agree to mediation (a provision that would have been advantageous to already put into the contractor’s contract), together, with the support of the mediators, they could have found a quicker, more favorable and mutually agreed solution that would have been in consideration of the interests of both parties.

The above-described scenarios do not represent inevitable sequences of events. With mediation, obstacles to a mutually agreed solution can be overcome that at first appear insurmountable to the parties involved. Frequently, a basis of renewed trust for further collaboration can be restored in mediation or a satisfactory settlement for a separation between the parties can be found.