Imagine you are working for a company that has an important client. The client is involved in a dispute with another business, and millions of dollars are at stake.  Negotiations to try and resolve the dispute, between the client and the other business, have stalled. The client has asked your boss for advice about how best to proceed.  If the client achieves a result they are satisfied with, it will be a boost for your company (and for you and your boss!)

Because negotiations have stalled, your boss wants you to research other options.

Your boss is not sure if she should advise the client to a) go to court, b) try mediation, or c) try arbitration. Your boss has asked you to provide her with a research memo about which of these methods might get the best result for the client in your jurisdiction.

Your boss tells you that the client:

1. Wants to try and preserve the relationship with the other business (for financial and reputational reasons), and
2. Wants a binding and final outcome because they can’t have the dispute drag on for years