10/30/2021
Mediation is a voluntary dispute resolution procedure that has been presented as an alternative to the judicial route, providing an adequate environment to resolve not only family issues, but also – and increasingly often – business issues.
Among the main benefits of mediation, the following can be mentioned: speed, economy, amicable environment between the parties and confidentiality of the procedure.
In view of the economic recession that the country is going through, which has been aggravated by the pandemic crisis, the choice for mediation has grown considerably and the expectation is that this trend will continue to rise for next year.
According to a study released, in the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Chamber of the Center and Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, there was a 486% increase in the number of mediations carried out in 2021 as compared to 2020.
Issues involving review and renegotiation of contractual clauses accounted for almost 49% of the claims, while disputes involving non-residential lease contracts amounted to 36.5%.
Considering the delay in a judicial proceeding, which also reflects the cost of litigation, the greater agility of mediation has been a relevant factor in choosing this procedure. In 2019, the National Council of Justice released data on the average duration of a mediation procedure: up to four and a half months; whereas a lawsuit can take, on average, four years just for the trial in the first instance.
In addition to the agility in resolving the dispute, it is worth noting the fact that in the mediation procedure, the parties find the solution together and in an amicable manner, a scenario that considerably reduces the risk of new conflicts.
Author: Gislene Barbosa
