Litigation
We know and understand that no-one – whatever the size of their business – wants the inconvenience, lost management time, and expense of pursuing a litigation. However, particularly when most disputes have a direct impact on the cash flow of your business, there are times when you need to take a proactive approach to resolve the dispute. In the last few years there has been much talk about Alternative Dispute Resolution, and what we firmly believe in and recommend to our clients is APPROPRIATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION, which means that we advise you on the most appropriate method of dispute resolution for your particular dispute, including considerations of such matters as the nature of the dispute, the cost, time, method of enforcement, and your attitude to risk, including:
> Negotiation – sometimes all that our clients need is someone to look at the dispute, identify the ‘sticking point’ between the parties, perhaps re-present in a slightly different way (or to come up with a new strategy), before a negotiated outcome becomes a real possibility.
> Mediation – Parties may feel that they are in ‘deadlock’. Both parties (or all parties, when the dispute involves more than just two) may want to settle, but they don’t know how. Perhaps they have tried the ‘traditional’ negotiation method but one party is being difficult. We can help, as we have extensive experience of supporting parties through the Mediation process, which is essentially that the parties nominate a third party to facilitate a negotiated settlement (if possible).
> Litigation – this is what most clients fear most – an expensive litigation before the Courts. However, our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team have a significant number of years experience between them. There will be very few areas of litigation that we have not dealt with over the years – we regularly appear before the specialist Commercial Courts and Tribunals throughout Scotland, the UK and internationally. We will give you advice on ways of keeping expenses down and maximising your prospects of success, including the benefits of our Solicitor Advocate Services.
> Arbitration – domestic and international – essentially a form of ‘private litigation’ by agreement between the parties – before, during or after a dispute has arisen - this is often seen as a method of dispute resolution which is particularly suited to meeting the requirements for flexibility, speed of resolution, and cost effectiveness, which are essential to modern business. There is a resurgence of interest in Arbitration for businesses in Scotland following the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 coming into force. In transnational disputes, there is the significant benefit of international recognition and enforcement of the Award (the judgement) in any one of 144 countries world-wide as a consequence of International Arbitration.
> Adjudication – used as an accelerated method of dispute resolution, something similar to Arbitration, but as provided for by statute, we have significant experience of resolving disputes in the Construction industry, including one of our team being qualified with an LLM in Construction Law (click here for details).
Whatever method of dispute resolution you are interested in, please give us a call or drop us an email and we’ll be happy to advise you on what is most appropriate for you.