Dispute resolution

The chapter

What we advise on

• Negotiation and settlement
• Mediation and arbitration
• Litigation before the courts

Negotiation and settlement

Many disputes are best resolved before they are argued. We assess the position plainly, including its weaknesses, and negotiate where a settlement serves the business better than a hearing would.

Mediation and arbitration

Where a contract provides for arbitration, or where the parties would rather settle their differences in private, we represent clients in mediation and in arbitral proceedings.

Litigation before the courts

When a dispute must be decided by a court, we conduct the proceedings and keep the client informed of cost, risk and progress at each stage.

How we work

A dispute is a problem for a business, not an end in itself. We begin by asking what outcome the business actually needs — a payment, a working relationship preserved, a point of principle settled — and let that answer shape the strategy.

A partner leads each matter and gives a candid view of its prospects from the outset, and again whenever the position changes. Where a matter can be settled quietly, we will say so.

Disputes often grow out of a transaction, an employment relationship or a property. Because those chapters sit under the same roof on Chancery Lane, the lawyers who know the background are close at hand.