Practice · 11
Disputes, tribunals and negotiated resolution
Most disputes are settled by a good letter and a hard conversation. The practice does both, and hands the rare court matter to someone who lives there.
Negotiation, mediation, tribunals and commissions. Everything short of a courtroom.
The work
Disputes are where the earlier decisions come home. The contract that was never reviewed, the partner who was never asked what happens on exit, the invoice terms that never mentioned interest. By the time the practice is involved, the question is not who is right. It is what outcome is worth having, and the cheapest route to it.
The practice negotiates, mediates and appears in the tribunals and commissions where most commercial and workplace disputes are actually decided: the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, the NSW Small Business Commissioner's mediation service, the anti-discrimination bodies, and the ombudsman schemes that cover telecommunications, energy, finance and other industries. It drafts the deed that ends the matter.
What it does not do is run court proceedings. That is a deliberate line, and it is drawn early rather than late. If a matter needs a court, the practice says so, prepares the file, and hands it to a litigator on its panel. No fee changes hands for the referral, in either direction.
This work includes
- Contract and payment disputes
- Shareholder and partnership disputes
- Franchise disputes
- Supplier and customer disputes
- Without prejudice negotiation
- Mediation, including the NSW Small Business Commissioner
- NCAT and other tribunals
- Fair Work Commission
- Anti-discrimination and human rights commissions
- Ombudsman and industry complaint schemes
- Settlement deeds and releases
- Preparing a matter for a litigator
How it usually runs
-
What the dispute is actually about
Usually money, sometimes control, occasionally principle. The first hour is spent on the documents and on what each side really needs, because a dispute framed correctly settles and one framed badly does not.
-
The letter that sets the position
Firm, specific, and written to be read by the other side's lawyer. It says what you want, why you are entitled to it, and what happens next. Most disputes are resolved in the exchange that follows.
-
Mediation or a tribunal, before a court
Mediation resolves most commercial disputes at a fraction of the cost of litigation. Where a tribunal or commission has jurisdiction, the practice runs the matter there. Where only a court will do, the file is handed to a litigator on the panel with the evidence assembled and the position settled.
-
A deed that ends it
A settlement that is not properly documented tends to come back. The practice drafts the deed of settlement and release so that it does not.
Where the line is
- Court litigation is the line. The practice does not appear in the Local, District, Supreme or Federal courts. When a dispute needs one, it goes to a litigator on the panel, with the practice's work on the file going with it.
- Tribunals, commissions and ombudsman schemes are not litigation. The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, anti-discrimination and human rights bodies and industry ombudsman schemes are all within the practice.
Nobody pays anybody for a referral here, in either direction. How the practice hands work on →
Common questions
-
Why would a firm choose not to litigate?
Because for most commercial disputes it is the wrong tool. Court is slow, public and expensive, and the outcome is rarely the one either side would have designed. A practice that does not litigate has no incentive to steer a matter toward court, and every incentive to resolve it. When a court is genuinely the answer, saying so early and handing over a well-prepared file is better for the client than learning litigation on their money.
-
What does the NSW Small Business Commissioner do?
Provides low-cost mediation for disputes involving small businesses, including many contract, supplier and franchise disputes. It is often a compulsory step before a tribunal or court will hear certain matters. The practice prepares for and attends these mediations regularly.
-
The other side has sent a letter. Should I reply myself?
Read it, do not reply in anger, and send it over before you answer. What you write in the first reply gets quoted back for the life of the dispute. A short, considered response from the practice usually costs less than undoing a hasty one.
-
How much does a dispute cost?
The letter and negotiation stage is usually a fixed fee. Mediation and tribunal work is quoted stage by stage in writing, with the estimate revised if the matter changes shape. You will be told, honestly, when the cost of continuing is approaching the value of what is in dispute, because that is the moment to settle.
Often sits beside this
Make an enquiry
Send a short note about what is happening. You will hear back within one business day, and there is no charge for finding out whether the matter is a fit.