We may all be in lockdown but it doesn’t mean our cases stand still! We need to move them forward. One way to do this is to mediate. How, you ask, when we can’t meet? Answer: mediate online or by telephone. Everyone is doing it! Even Parliament is meeting via Zoom and the Courts are holding some online hearings. So here are five reasons why you should try it:
1. Clients love it! I had feedback the other day from a party who took part in a zoom mediation: “I actually preferred it because I didn’t want to spend time in a room on my own”. Mediating on your own can be quite a lonely experience if the mediator leaves you alone for a long time. If you mediate online you are in familiar surroundings and can even go outside!
2. The Courts are going to be closed for quite a while by all accounts and when they re open they are still going to take time to get back to normal operating – so to avoid delay why not use the time constructively and mediate? There is nothing to lose as there is no obligation to settle and everything to gain as online mediation has just as good a success rate as meeting in person. If you do resolve your case just think of the legal fees you will save!
3. The Courts still penalise parties who refuse to mediate and online mediation counts for this purpose just as much as mediating in person. So if you offer to mediate and the other party refuses, you could gain an advantage if the Court takes the view that it was unreasonable not to have done so.
So those are three reasons to mediate online during lockdown, but if you aren’t persuaded please get in touch and we can set up a demonstration of how it works for you and/or your team.
Just drop us a line at enquiries@promediate.co.uk