Imagine you are working for a company (for example, you might be in marketing, commerce, or another business context). Your company has an important client who is involved in a dispute with another business, and millions of dollars are at stake. The important client has tried for several months to negotiate with the other business to resolve the dispute, but those negotiations have stalled.

The important client has asked your boss for your advice about how best to proceed. Your boss doesn’t have time to research the best way forward, so has asked you to do a research memo outlining the options and weighing up the best possible option for the important client to achieve the desired result. The important client has given your boss the following details:

1. They don’t trust mediation because they have never been involved in a mediation and they have heard all you do is talk about feelings

2. They think arbitration is not appropriate for their situation because they understand the process will take too long and be too expensive, with no clear outcome – there is an ‘arbitration clause’ in their contract with the other business, but the client does not want to use it

3. They would prefer to go to court to resolve the dispute because they have a good lawyer and they will get a final result and this dispute needs to be resolved sooner rather than later – they are confident the court decision will go in their favour

4. They do think they might be partly at fault in the dispute because they provided some faulty merchandise to the other business, but that is only a small part of the dispute 5. While the money at stake is important, your client has told you their reputation is even more important, and they don’t want it to become public knowledge they are in dispute with the other company as it might effect their contracts with other companies Provide your boss with a research memo – your boss wants to know:

a) What mediation services are available in your jurisdiction, if any, the client could use, and should they use mediation?

b) What arbitration services are available in your jurisdiction, if any, the client could use, and should they use arbitration?

c) Is court really the best option for the client? d) Anything else that might be relevant? If the important client can achieve a result they are satisfied with, it will be a great boost for you, your boss and the company you work for.

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