How does a lawyer help you with dispute resolution

5 min readDec 31, 2020

If you have had a dispute with a person or a corporation before, you’d know how a dispute resolution works and what lawyers can do to help you resolve the dispute.

Starting with negotiating with the other party, mediating disputes, filing suits, to representing you in the court of law, a lawyer’s representation becomes important throughout the dispute settlement process

Let’s talk more about dispute and dispute resolution before talking about a lawyer’s role in dispute resolution

What is Dispute Resolution?

Also known as dispute settlement, conflict resolution, and appropriate dispute resolution (ADR), dispute resolution is one of the most undertaken legal practices in the country today. A dispute can happen for many different reasons, but not every dispute must go through court proceedings. Two parties can always start with negotiating and settling the dispute in the presence of lawyers. This does save much more time than filing a suit, waiting for a trial, and finally winning the case.

You have two choices at the start of a dispute:

1. You can participate in an adversarial process, e.g., court or arbitration, which involve discovery and motions

2. You can negotiate as soon as possible, even if a legal proceeding has started.

Every dispute settlement starts with a dispute settlement process between two parties led by each party’s lawyers. When a dispute doesn’t settle for the room, both the parties will decide to settle the case traditionally inside the courtroom.

Dispute resolution processes can be used to resolve any dispute, including family, neighborhood, employment, business, housing, personal injury, consumer, and environmental disputes.

How does a Lawyer Help You with Dispute Resolution?

Lawyers are the key agents in resolving disputes. Starting from filing a lawsuit, negotiating the settlement to fighting cases in court, you’d need a legal representative throughout the process.

Lawyers for opposing parties have the responsibility to present every piece of evidence and make every legal argument that might benefit their clients during both the negotiation and adversarial process.

HBR.org reported that

U.S. corporations pay more than $20 billion a year to litigation attorneys.

Many corporations chose not to go through a trial inside the court as it can cost them a lot of time, money, and reputation. Hence, most corporate cases, such as compensation to workers, customers, etc., are settled outside the court through litigation lawyers’ mediation process.

More than 90% of all lawsuits, including disputes, are settled out of court, most of them virtually on the courthouse steps. A dispute resolution lawyer can help reach out to the other party to negotiate on a certain sum or compensation fair to their clients without even taking the case to court.

In the course of an actual mediation, a good mediator might do every one of the following things, in roughly the following order:

• Urge participants to talk to each other

• Help them to understand the nature and objectives of mediation

• Carry messages

• Help the parties agree on an agenda

• Provide a suitable environment for negotiation

• Maintain order

• Help disputants understand their problems and the source of their conflict

• Defuse unrealistic expectations

• Help participants develop their own proposals

• Help them negotiate; suggest solutions

Finally, persuade them to accept a specific resolution

What are the benefits of Dispute Resolution?

Many parties choose the assistance of litigation lawyers to resolve disputes outside the court. Many dispute resolution processes are cheaper and faster than the traditional legal process, and certain processes can provide the parties involved with greater participation in reaching a solution and more control over the outcome of the dispute. Hence, many cases are dealt with out of the court almost every time.

One of the most important parties of every dispute resolution is a mediator. A mediator can help the parties resume negotiations and do much more than transmitting offers and demands back and forth. Rather, the mediator can facilitate the settlement process.

Here are some of the benefits of dispute resolution or appropriate dispute resolution.

Costs significantly less the going to court

Settling disputes outside the court costs less to both parties than going to the court. Litigations, even those which last a short period of time, can become exceedingly expensive in the long run.

An example of ADR-based negotiation of a dispute at Chevron cost $25,000, whereas going to court would have cost as much as $2.5 million over a period of three to five years!

Less Stress

Resolving disputes in a room with lawyers is easier than attending court hearings. If a person is old or ill, court hearings can really become a hassle. Plus, litigation of any kind is a stressful experience; therefore, it’s wise to avoid it, if possible.

Tell your Story

During mediation, a common dispute resolution method includes listening to both parties and trying to find out as much information as possible. A neutral mediator will facilitate the discussion where both parties get an opportunity to tell their stories.

Takes into account the needs of both parties

The court is a far more rigid institution. It tends to resolve disputes in line with legal legislation, whereas dispute settlement is a more flexible process that considers the need for those involved. The outcome of ADR is more likely to be reflective of the dispute.

Protect your reputation

The closed-door resolution helps keep your identity out of the public eye and helps protect your reputation if you want everything to be a discreet process.

This can also help preserve the existing relationship between the two parties, which can be useful if the relationship is expected to continue.

Saves times

Dispute negotiations help save much time from filing litigation, attending each court hearings, to waiting for the trial to end. Generally, court hearings take a long time to be arranged, leading to long waits for resolving issues.

Here is the detail info graphics on this.