With matter-specific knowledge and experience, we can help bring a resolution to legal disputes in a quicker, less expensive and less traumatic fashion than in the traditional courtroom setting.
Seven of our partners serve as mediators, arbitrators or special masters.
- Jim Ryan has served as a mediator in trust and estate disputes.
- John Fitzpatrick and T.J. Ryan mediate trust and estate controversies.
- Phil Rupprecht and Phil Whitaker mediate a wide variety of financial and commercial disputes.
- Roger Stahl is certified in civil mediation by the Minnesota State Bar Association.
An Alternative to the Courtroom
The system for resolving legal disputes through the long, expensive and traumatic process of a court trial is not always the best method for resolving disputes. More and more people are turning to mediation, arbitration and other alternative avenues for dispute resolution.
Mediation is an informal, voluntary and confidential process of dispute resolution where a neutral third party assists or facilitates a resolution agreed to between the parties.
Arbitration allows the parties to hire a person knowledgeable in the area of their dispute to listen to their evidence and render a decision to resolve their dispute.
With alternative dispute resolution services, the parties or the court can appoint a knowledgeable person to act as a Special Master to hear evidence and render a Report to the court which is then accepted in whole or in part by the trial Judge to resolve a dispute.
Another method used to resolve dispute without trial is that the parties will hire a knowledgeable person to render a formal Early Neutral Evaluation of their dispute, set forth in a written report to the parties which analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of their respective cases and states the evaluator’s opinion about the probable outcome if the case goes to trial.
All of these methods are designed to bring about a resolution to legal disputes in a quicker, less expensive and far less traumatic fashion than a resolution through the traditional trial-verdict-appeal methods.
