The National Arbitration Forum Blog

A recent article entitled, Can't we all just get along? Businesses like mediation as an alternative to costly court fights (Wisconsin State Journal, 9/10/06), explored the success of mediation for business-related disputes. In Dane county, where Wisconsin's capitol is located, mediation cases are on the rise and nearly one third of them involve businesses.

Assistant general counsel William Rasche of the regional insurance giant American Family Insurance says mediation is a highly effective business dispute resolution tool. He notes that, “the track record for mediation has been highly successful for us throughout the years... It is a way of reaching final resolution in a fair and reasonable way.”

Madison, Wisc.-based attorney, Terry Peppard, says that mediation, “is now an exceptionally well-proven business process, and there should be no business executive anywhere in America who is not intimately familiar with the mediation process and its benefits.” Peppard, who recently published Arbitration and Mediation of Business Disputes says, “You can't be a good executive if you don't know that this is out there and what it can do for you.” According to Peppard, there are several instances when mediation is the “best way for a business to go.” These are when:

• It is important to maintain a valuable business relationship between the parties while still resolving the dispute.

• It is important for a client to avoid disclosure of confidential business data.

• It is important that the case be resolved as fast as possible to avoid disrupting business operations.

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