As a business owner, you understand that business relationships serve as one of the most important aspects of building your venture up. Without these crucial ties, you will likely not succeed in the market.
But with partnership comes the possibility of getting into disputes, and you may want to jump to litigation immediately. Should you? Experts generally think you should try other methods of resolving your dispute first.
Preserving your business ties with the arbitration
FINRA takes a look at ways to avoid litigation. You want to try to avoid it in order to maintain the health of your business relationships, which serve as a key point of business growth. While you may not have the same ties with these involved parties in the aftermath, you will likely have a lot less hostility than if you had taken anyone to court.
Instead of going right for litigation, consider arbitration first. This serves similar purposes, and an arbitrator even fills a role similar to that of a judge. However, it costs significantly less money, and you do not have to go through a trial. In addition, your matters get kept out of public court records, protecting your privacy.
Considering mediation
If you and the other parties do not have much hostility between you, you can even consider mediation. Mediators do not hold the same power as arbitrators in that they cannot make legally binding decisions for you to follow. Instead, they simply moderate your discussions as you and the other parties work toward an agreement together.
Of course, if worse comes to worst, litigation still remains an option. But the health of your business ties will almost always benefit from trying an alternative first.
