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Hanbo town reports

hanpt@sph.com.sg

In recent years, mediation has become the method of dispute into a business, and the other outside the court’s effective dispute resolution.

Over the past three years, a growing number of commercial disputes in the Singapore Mediation Centre (Singapore Mediation Centre) to find a solution, reconciliation average rate of 73%.

2014 mediation cases

Surge 120%

According to data provided by the Singapore Mediation Centre, the Centre for mediation in commercial disputes have general upward trend over the past few years. With commercial cases handled in 2012 compared to 2013 increased by 34% in 2014 surged 120 percent, while rising 75 percent this year.

Singapore Mediation Centre executive director Ann Long Cheng said: “The practice of mediation has been increasingly adopted by enterprises and people, especially when they find out of court dispute resolution can save money and time with the awareness of mediation and its benefits increase. We expect more companies will choose to mediation as a method of resolving disputes. ”

Court litigation to resolve disputes practice, there are a number of shortcomings, including not only undermine the relationship of the disputing parties, may also damage to reputation.

Singapore Mediation Centre Fan Ye Ting assistant mediator in an event organized by the Centre pointed out that the court is to take the confrontational (adversarial) approach, inevitably hurt each other’s feelings and relationships, and therefore a dispute the two sides fighting off a lawsuit, often It means that they will not talk to each other future business dealings.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit in the media, can also cause negative publicity. Presided over the seminar, president of consulting firm Strategic Moves Wisla (Viswa Sadasivan) said: “Many more things will surfaced about the company, more than you want to let people know.”

Compared with the traditional court litigation, a big advantage for the dispute mediation, is able to save time and costs. Fan Ye Ting believes that mediation than in court can significantly save more costs. If the mediation is successful, problem-solving speed more rapidly than litigate.

Fan Ye Ting is InterContinental Hotels Group Legal Director Asia, Middle East and Africa. As the director of international business law, she also strongly praised the mediation practices adopted at group level.

Other benefits of mediation is to achieve a settlement in the dispute only if the two sides to reach a mutually acceptable solution. Mediation is confidential, so that all parties can in case the message is not exposed, to explore various options.

18 years of mediation experience 林长仁 senior lawyer pointed out that from “confrontational” approach the court, turned to and for your mediation practice to solve the problem, need to change the culture.

Having said that, he found that mediation is actually a “very Asian” approach. For example, in the past the Chinese countryside, the villagers will find the village once a dispute to resolve disputes. Last year he had a text description of this phenomenon in the past Asian societies. “Today, Western society began to turn to mediation approach, and we (the East) are also returning to the road, which is like a big circle back.”

Wisla also agree with this view, and that “it is restored to the fairly basic and Asian practices.”

In addition, he believes that China’s legal system and traditional culture, but also allows us to complement each other at the time of the adoption of the mediation approach. He summed up this way:. “Many Asians are quite able to accept mediation Western system we have, and also that (traditional) culture to draw”

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