“The goal of resolving conflict in a relationship is not victory or defeat. It’s reaching understanding and letting go of our need to be right.” – Unknown.
Many a time when faced with a legal conflict, the parties feel almost always inclined to file a lawsuit before the court, asking family to intervene or ultimately waiving their rights to any redress. This mindset can be attributed to the general lack of knowledge about other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution available in Uganda.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a means of resolving disputes by using an independent third party, who may help the parties to reach their own solution but who cannot impose a solution. It falls into three main categories being negotiation, mediation and arbitration.
This article will focus on Mediation, one of the more informal methods of dispute resolution.
Mediation is the attempt to settle a legal dispute through active participation of a third party (mediator) who works to find points of agreement and make those in conflict agree on a fair result. Mediation has become very common in trying to resolve domestic relations disputes (divorce, child custody, and visitation) and is often ordered by the judge in such cases. Mediation also has become more frequent in contract and civil damage cases.
In mediation, there are professional mediators or lawyers who do some mediation for substantial fees, but the financial cost is less than fighting the matter out in court and may achieve early settlement and an end to anxiety. Though proven highly effective, mediation does not always result in a settlement but always goes a long way in proving good faith and a will to painlessly settle a dispute.
In 2013, the Judiciary launched court-annexed mediation to try and swiftly settle cases of a simpler nature and in turn cut on the backlog in the courts of Judicature. The pilot study was launched in the commercial division and after significant positive reception, it was extended to other divisions.
The process of mediation typically takes on a more informal approach to settling disputes. This nature has thus caused most of the parties involved to take it less seriously and the more rogue lawyers to take advantage of its leniency by delaying the talks, triggering unwarranted discovery and concealing facts and evidence.
However the above cannot cast big enough shade on the process itself. When approached professionally, mediation can bring more expeditious results at a lower financial and emotional cost to the parties. In a typical scenario, we have two opposing parties that may or may not choose to have legal representation and an impartial figure, the mediator. The process is designed to hear both parties and draw points of agreement and disagreement, and finally to weave a common ground.
In a more technical sense, and in the likely event that a mutual agreement is not reached, the party that has a stronger BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement – NO-DEAL option) stands to take the advantage of the day. This is why it is usually advisable to have a trained professional to make your arguments.
Mediation unlike litigation is not final and therefore of one is displeased with the results of the process, they can seek further legal redress in the courts of law
Please contact our team if you need any assistance or clarification.