Settlement Success - A How to Guide on Resolving Disputes - Webinar

Introduction

It is common knowledge that most contested legal proceedings do not come to an end by the parties fighting them to the finish at a trial, but by settling out of court. However, in very many of these cases that never reach trial a vital role is still played by legal representatives. This includes helping their clients to improve their negotiating positions, to weigh their options, and to have confidence that if concessions are made to do a deal then there will be no unpleasant surprises in return.

The continuing trend of the courts to promote the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution, possibly even by ordering the parties to engage in mediation, underlines how important it is that litigators be familiar with how these processes work in practice.

On the other hand, the push to engage in ADR, frequent judicial commentary urging parties to compromise rather than continuing with litigation, and the realities of litigation costs, can easily lead to clients feeling unhappy with a sense that they are being pressured to give way unjustly. Working out a clear settlement strategy with the client that is based on their aims is therefore an essential skill.

This webinar is intended to cover points that are relevant to settling civil litigation generally, but with a particular focus on those disputes where the financial stakes for at least one of the parties are high enough that for them settling the dispute cannot be simply a ‘horse trade’.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• An introductory discussion on how negotiating a settlement of a civil legal dispute differs from other kinds of negotiation
• Advantages and disadvantages of making open offers
• Considerations for how to formulate Calderbank offers and responses to them, and the importance of whether or not negotiations are ‘subject to contract’
• Making Part 36 offers which are valid and which are effective in promoting a favourable settlement
• How to prepare for a mediation (or early neutral evaluation), what to expect during the mediation itself, and what to avoid
• What the risks of refusing to mediate are, and how that decision can be justified
• Problems commonly encountered with the drafting of settlement agreements
• The special procedural and practical considerations that apply where a party lacks capacity
• Making sure that the settlement is not open to challenge later, and can be effectively enforced