The Advantages of Arbitration and Mediation in Phoenix, AZ

There are great advantages to managing a divorce or civil case with arbitration or mediation

(1) Arbitration and Mediation Saves you Time

Without question, the litigation process is very time consuming. As the Arizona courts become more clogged, it takes longer and longer to reach resolution to a dispute. Court dockets are becoming more overloaded each year, so even the most minor disagreement can take months and even years to resolve. Arbitration and mediation can generally bring about resolution in a fraction of the time it takes through a standard litigation process.

(2) Arbitration & Mediation is Cost Efficient

When you save time, you save money. When you hire an experienced arbitrator or mediator in Phoenix AZ, each side pays 50% of the professional's hourly rate. By using arbitration or mediation, fewer documents need to be prepared and submitted. Furthermore, rather than hiring competing experts, such as financial analysts, or, in Phoenix family law, child specialists, when you use alternative dispute resolution, you and the other party can choose to hire one neutral specialist to make recommendations or decisions. The Gillespie Shields & Durrant arbitration and mediation center in Phoenix, AZ will efficiently review your case, set and conduct meetings or hearings, and prepare the concluding agreement, whether it is an arbitration ruling or a settlement agreement reached in mediation. The sooner you reach a full agreement or have a decision, the fewer resources you expend on the conflict rather than your work or business.

(3) Mediators and Arbitrators Take Time to Study your Case

G S & D professionals do not take short cuts with your case. Our legal professionals do this because skipping steps will lead to incomplete or ill-informed results. A short-term fix is not a solid and sustainable solution. The team at our mediation and arbitration center in Phoenix understands that you want a smart, practical and legally enforceable resolution and we work to make sure that that is what you get, by studying your case and applying our knowledge and experience to the process.

(4) Arbitrators and Mediators with Experience in the Applicable Law

Our Phoenix attorneys have areas of experience and expertise, coupled with years of practice in the relevant area of law. The judge assigned to your case might not have the experience or expertise in the area of law applicable to your case. Some judges on rotation through the Maricopa County courts may even be in fields of law that do not interest them, so it can be difficult to sustain their attention or patience. A former commercial litigator judging a family law case might not have the patience to sift through emotionality and diversions to find and rule upon the key family law facts and issues. However, if you and the other side choose an arbitrator or mediator who voluntarily practices in the field your case falls within, and has experience to draw upon for legal and practical problem-solving, your case will go more smoothly and efficiently and it is less likely that unnecessary conflicts will erupt.

(5) Arbitration and Mediation Preserves Business or Family Interaction

Neither businesses nor family members can take a slash and burn approach to dispute resolution and expect to be able to operate optimally in the following years. The economy is too difficult and families, especially families with children, must be able to interact productively and move forward.

(6) Arbitration and Mediation Provides Confidentiality / Privacy

Your case and presentation will remain confidential. No pleadings, especially extreme allegations and charges, are filed in the public record - particularly when you would like to keep your claims and any allegations that might arise, private. Private mediation or arbitration are ideal for comprehensive resolution without causing the stress or other ramifications of having your dispute in the public eye.

(7) Mediated Solutions Stick (are More Often Adhered to by Both Sides)

Parties who resolve their cases by mediation in Arizona are more likely to abide by the terms of the final resolution than parties to litigation are. There are many possible reasons that this is true, among them that businesses and individuals who use mediation might be more inclined to have the inclination to find solutions and move forward, and the very process of mediation encourages that attitude for future interaction. Most often, experts in mediation tend to conclude that the mediation process is a process of investing in outcome rather than diverting resources and energies into battle.

We at Gillespie, Shields & Durrant believe in the resolution-perspective that is the core of alternative dispute resolution ("ADR"), whether mediation or arbitration. After decades of collective experience of practicing business law and family law in Phoenix, Arizona, we know that the smartest and soundest foundation for you, your family or your business is to resolve problems intelligently and comprehensively and then to move forward.