Category: Commercial and Civil Disputes

Commercial disputes settle on commercial terms, and a court is rarely the best forum for arriving at them. Mediation gives the parties control over the outcome, keeps the dispute and its documents out of the public record, and preserves relationships that litigation usually ends.

This section covers shareholder and contractual disputes, construction, franchise, professional fee and body corporate matters, how power imbalance between parties of unequal size is managed by process design rather than by the mediator taking sides, what mediation costs against the cost of running the matter to trial, and how Rule 41A changes the timing of a commercial dispute in the High Court.

Settlement Authority in Commercial Mediation: Who Must Be in the Room and What Authority Must They Bring?

Attendance is not authority. A practical guide for attorneys on settlement authority, mandates and sign-off in commercial and Rule 41A mediation.

The Quiet Architecture of Fairness: Managing Power Imbalances in Commercial Mediation

Home / Insights / Commercial and Civil Disputes Attorneys · Commercial mediation The Quiet Architecture of Fairness: Managing Power Imbalances in Commercial Mediation Power imbalances in commercial mediation are managed through process design, not by the mediator taking sides. A mediator protects procedural fairness, meaning equal information, equal airtime and properly authorised decision-makers, while leaving […]

Civil and Commercial Mediation in South Africa: When It Works, When It Doesn’t, and How to Use It Properly

Home / Insights / Commercial and Civil Disputes Mediation · Commercial disputes Civil and Commercial Mediation in South Africa: When It Works, When It Doesn’t, and How to Use It Properly Civil and commercial mediation is a voluntary, confidential and without prejudice process in which a mediator helps disputing parties negotiate their own outcome rather […]