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the chamber and its members<br />
mediation<br />
How to settle a<br />
dispute<br />
Based on personal experience at the Dispute<br />
Resolution Centre, a mediation expert reflects on<br />
how to manage the process<br />
WORDS By: niall lawless<br />
photos courtesy: the dispute resolution centre<br />
In November 2017, I worked at the Trinidad and Tobago Dispute Resolution<br />
Centre (DRC) for three days as an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)-<br />
appointed mediator in a multi-million US dollar engineering dispute, which<br />
resulted in a settlement.<br />
Mediation is not adversarial. It works best when the participants trust the<br />
process, and are willing to cooperate to solve a shared problem. Nothing is agreed<br />
until everything is agreed in writing, which allows the parties to take risks when they<br />
come to deal with individual items.<br />
Five stages<br />
The whole process is confidential, private and structured. It has five stages:<br />
introduction, information exchange, option generation, negotiation, and conclusion.<br />
Information exchange and option generation are by far the most important.<br />
Commercial mediation begins with the parties agreeing to mediate, and usually<br />
ends with the parties settling their dispute. The parties are the stars; usually they are<br />
common-sense business people motivated by revenue and contribution, and a desire<br />
to continue future cooperation.<br />
The mediation outcome is affected by whom the parties choose to attend the<br />
mediation meetings on their behalf. Each party should bring a lead negotiator with<br />
full authority to settle the dispute, and to sign the settlement agreement. The role<br />
of lead negotiator is challenging, as it requires the evaluation and development of<br />
options, and being able to respond to any new information provided by the other<br />
party. The lead negotiator needs the support of respected, trusted and valued<br />
colleagues.<br />
The lawyers<br />
The parties’ lawyers can make or break the mediation. Good mediation lawyers<br />
can move seamlessly from advocate to advisor. In their role as advocate they will<br />
succinctly summarise legal principles, but not in an adversarial or combative way,<br />
gifting litigation risk to the mediator.<br />
They allow the business principal to take the lead, preparing their clients by offering<br />
44<br />
Trinidad<br />
and Tobago Chamber<br />
of Industry and Commerce<br />
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine
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