Resolving Disputes Through Mediation
Ben mediates a broad variety of cases involving business disputes, insurance coverage, construction defect disputes, complex litigation, contract disputes, and personal injury. With experience as lead counsel in several jury trials and over a decade handling a wide variety of matters, Ben can offer the perspective necessary to resolve a case objectively and realistically evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ positions and in recognizing the considerable risks and expense associated with ongoing litigation.
A Curriculum Vitae outlining Ben’s experience is available here: Resume
What is Mediation?
Mediation is an important to tool to consider in solving any dispute. Mediation is when the parties agree to hire a neutral third party to initiate a meaningful discussion between the parties and to suggest solutions to their conflict.
A mediator is not like a judge. A mediator does not decide who is right or wrong and does not tell the disputing parties how their problem should be handled. Rather, during mediation, all parties involved explain the issue as they see it and present their ideas for how they think the matter should be resolved. Based on those conversations, the mediator assists the parties in coming to a resolution through a step-by-step discussion about their concerns and possible outcomes.
Why Choose Mediation?
1. You Are In Control.
Mediation allows you to be in control — not the lawyers, judges, jury, or anyone else. Litigation involves several factors beyond your control. No one can guarantee what will happen in your case. In mediation, you make the decisions relating to the outcome of the litigation. Your will give you sound advice, but you are the person in control at the mediation.
2. It’s Confidential.
Documents filed with the court are public record. Anyone with a case number can access your legal documents. In mediation, there is confidentiality. Unless the parties agree to the documents being filed, and what the documents say, everything else discussed is private. Additionally, if mediation is unsuccessful, anything discussed at the mediation cannot be used against you during the course of litigation.
3. It Can Eliminate The Costs Of Litigation.
Litigation can be a lengthy, costly, and stressful process. Mediation, if successful, can end the need for litigation on the terms chosen by the parties. Whether litigation is merely being contemplated or you are in the middle of a lawsuit, mediation can eliminate the need for further litigation expenses and reduce the stress of continuing with litigation and an unknown outcome.
Understanding Our Approach to Mediation
Mediation is a highly effective form of alternative dispute resolution. Mediators employ various approaches and styles. Ben draws upon his decade of experience as a litigator in exploring the resolution of cases to tailor an approach that is best suited for the case at hand and that in his judgment will maximize the potential for settlement.
Attorney Wright’s mediation style, along with substantively engaging with the parties and their counsel concerning the factual and legal issues of the case, allows Attorney Wright to avoid the “cookie cutter” approach regrettably used in many mediations where the role of the mediator is reduced to shuttling settlement proposals back and forth between the parties.