Mediation / ADR

Maryland Mediation Attorneys

Alternative Dispute Resolution • Arbitration

At Willis & Henderson, P.A., we know that litigation is not always the best way to resolve conflicts. Our attorneys are experienced and trained in mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, providing you with more options for solving your legal problems.

Based in Ellicott City, Maryland, we represent clients in Howard, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll and surrounding counties. Our mediators can resolve:

• Business contract disputes
• Divorce and family law issues
• Real estate and property disputes

Knowing our clients are eager to resume a project, complete a transaction, get back to business, or continue on with their lives, we tackle issues in a cost-effective and timely manner. We emphasize open lines of communication throughout the process.

What is ADR?

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) seeks to resolve conflicts peacefully and promote creative problem solving. A variety of ADR processes such as mediation, early neutral case evaluation, arbitration, settlement conferences, and consensus building are increasingly being used by courts, communities, schools, government agencies, criminal and juvenile justice programs, businesses, and other organizations cross the country. Successful ADR programs in different fields have many benefits, including:

• Enhancing the public's access to justice
• Making courts more user friendly
• Reducing congested court dockets
• Empowering people to resolve their own disputes
• Promoting more reasonable and peaceful behavior in the community
• Involving more people in government decision making cutting business costs
• Healing rifts between people and restoring relationships

What is Mediation?

Mediation is a process in which a trained neutral person, a mediator, helps people in a dispute to communicate with one another, to understand each other, and if possible, to reach agreements that satisfy everyone's needs.

• A mediator can help you to reach agreements, build relationships and find solutions that work.
• In mediation, you speak for yourself and make your own decisions.
• Mediators will not make decisions for you, provide any legal advice, or recommend the terms of an agreement.
• Mediation can help protect your privacy since, unlike courtroom proceedings open to the public, mediation is a confidential process.

Why should I Try Mediation?

• Mediation may save you time and money.
• Mediation provides an opportunity for you to say what's important to you and hear the other person's perspectives.
• Mediation may help you to figure out how to meet your needs and the other person's needs through creative, customized solutions that work for everyone.
• You have decision-making power in mediation, and you know your needs better than any judge or jury.
• Many business disputes, family conflicts, neighborhood disputes, and one-on-one issues can be effectively resolved in mediation.
• Even some criminal and juvenile justice cases are better handled in mediation than in court, especially if the people involved have an ongoing relationship.
• Mediation may help you preserve or improve a troubled business, family or neighborhood relationship.

Everyone Seeks Solutions

Mediation is not about winning and losing, but rather, about having an opportunity to identify solutions that work for everyone. Agreements made in mediation come from the participants, not the mediator, and the participants may choose to sign a written agreement that is enforceable as a contract. If you do not reach an agreement or develop a solution that works for everyone, you can still have your case handled by the court or resolved in some other way. If you do not sign a written agreement in mediation, and you decide to take your dispute to court, neither the mediator nor the participants can testify in court about what happened during the mediation. You can't "lose" in mediation.

Why Do Judges Encourage Mediation?

The Maryland Judiciary recognizes that in appropriate cases mediation may achieve more satisfactory outcomes in a less time-consuming and less expensive manner. The courts function as problem solvers and realize the underlying problems in many disputes cannot be resolved by the decision of a judge or jury. Mediation provides the public with an opportunity to resolve many disputes permanently and effectively, relieves overburdened court dockets, and helps prevent disputes from escalating.

Call Us at 410-461-9400

If you wish to explore mediation or ADR for your situation, contact the Maryland mediation attorneys of Willis & Henderson, P.A. to arrange an initial consultation.