Advantages
- Party autonomy : parties shape the resolution of their dispute themselves and can be very creative in doing so.
- Sustainable solution : Since the parties have reached the solution together, the agreement made is also likely to be respected.
- Time- and cost-efficiency : in a limited period of time, the parties try to reach a solution under the guidance of the mediator. Thus, costs can be better controlled. A lawsuit, on the other hand, can drag on for so long and involve so many costs (internal costs for following up the case, negative energy, work that could have been done for other and more profitable purposes, lawyers' fees, court costs, etc.) that even the winning party does not get a positive net result out of it
- De-commodification - New insights : by restoring communication between the parties, the mediator ensures that the parties come to the realisation that their interests can be served in a different way from the one they initially envisaged, leading them to again see creative ways out to a solution.
- Discretion : mediation is a confidential process. There are no public hearing pleadings.
