Legal disputes in a business require a detailed and strategic approach. Whether you’re dealing with a disgruntled employee or you’re being accused of breaching a contract between you and another client, it’s important to know what to expect when navigating any type of dispute.
With that being said, here’s how to navigate a legal dispute in business so that you’ll hopefully be able to mitigate the fallout or problems that may occur from a situation like this.
- Assess and prepare
First and foremost, assess and prepare for the legal dispute ahead. It’s important that you stay calm and to not let anger or frustration cloud your judgment to begin with.
Instead, focus on business aspects of the situation so that you don’t find yourself making the wrong decisions moving forward.
Be sure to carefully examine any contracts or agrees that are relative to the disput and any clauses or dispute resolution options available.
Start to gather information and documents that can be used as evidence if needed and understand the risks that come with the dispute itself. That might be both financial and reputational.
- Explore alternative dispute resolution
There are a number of alternative dispute resolutions that you have available to utilize. Understanding what these are, can be helpful to explore which one might work best for your dispute in question.
Firstly, there’s negotiation. This takes place with the other party through open communication and finding a compromise. Mediation involves a neutral third-party that facilitates communication and helps to reach a mutually acceptable solution.
Finally, there’s arbitration which involves submitting the dispute to an arbitrator who will then make a decision that’s binding.
- Seek legal advice
If you’re in a legal dispute of any level, despite what dispute resolution you take, it’s always good to get some advice from a legal professional.
Consulting with the solicitor should be your first step so that you can gather the best advice, as early on in the process as possible. A solicitor will help you understand your rights, assess the strengths and weaknesses in the case, as well as advising on the best course of action.
A strategy will need to be developed, so that you can hopefully resolve the dispute in the right manner and as efficiently as possible. Making use of a firm like Titan Law is useful when you’re up against a big corporation or legal issue.
- Formal dispute resolution
To help navigate your legal dispute, you’ll want to proceed down the ligation route if you haven’t been able solve it through other methods.
Ligitation is the last resort because it can be time-consuming, expensive and a stressful process to have to deal with. It should only be considered as a last resort when those other options have gone unsuccessful.
- Preventing future disputes
In order to prevent future disputes from occurring, contracts should be clear, concise and of course, legally solund. Open communication is the best way to be when it comes to managing legal disputes and it’s good to be proactive with risk management.
Navigating a legal dispute is stressful but if tackled properly, you’ll hopefully have it resolved quickly.