Businesses are full of ups and downs and conflicts keep happening. You must be very well aware of this fact if you have a business partner. Some disputes create chaos to such an extent that you might even have to go to court to settle the matter down. However, there is one other way through which you can settle down your conflicts and that is through an arbitration program. An arbitration agreement saves your time and money, as you don’t have to take the matter to the court, instead, the matter will be resolved by an arbitrator. An arbitrator is like a judge and will be hearing from the lawyers of both parties once the agreement is signed. In case a dispute arises, the entire process will be taken to a conference room and resolved.
However, you simply can’t go for arbitration unless you have signed the agreement first. In the agreement, you and your partner agree to take all kinds of disputes to the arbitrator, instead of going to court. Below are some benefits of signing an arbitration agreement for your business. These benefits might convince you and your business partner to sign one too.
It’s Cheap
The reason why many people go for an arbitration program is that it’s less expensive as compared to the court. You get out of the hassle of paying the court fee. Remember, matters, if taken to court, get extremely perplexed, and also take a lot of time to be processed. Arbitration, on the other hand, is fast and your dispute will be resolved before you know it.
Avoid Jury
The jury, although, can be very beneficial in many situations, can turn out to be stressful in some matters. Moreover, it doesn’t make sense to approach a jury in the court over having a small business conflict. Instead, you can make things easier for yourself, through the arbitration agreement, as the lawyers will make sure everything is settled down calmly.
It’s Confidential!
Imagine having a conflict with your partner over some confidential matters. That’s where the problem arises. You want the dispute to be settled down but also can’t take it to the court because of the delicacy of the matter. What now? Well, don’t worry as that’s where an arbitration program is going to help you exactly. The details of whatever dispute you have with your partner will remain in secrecy as it’s just going to be you, your partner, and the lawyers in the conference room.
Avoid Hostility
Do you know that hundreds of business partners have ended their partnership as a result of conflicts taken to the court? When a dispute travels to the court, it gets even more bigger and complicated and there is an 80% chance that it will turn into a hostile fight. The more hostile the dispute will get, the higher the chance that your business is going to end with the partner. However, with an arbitration program, there is a significant chance that everything will be resolved calmly. Both the parties will have to agree on a mutual decision passed by the arbitrator present.
Although the arbitration program may seem very appealing to you, there are some disadvantages too and you should know them, to decide, whether you really want an arbitration program or not.
- If the arbitrator makes a decision, no matter if it’s in your favor or not, you have to agree with it. You can not appeal the decision in any way. This means that you cant take the decision to the court and also can’t go for an arbitration program.
- It is a bit difficult to put up a case against the other party as the exchange of information is very limited in an arbitration program as compared to the court. In case, the other party is at the advantage of having more information and data to use against you, you will be at loss.
- There is a chance that the arbitration agreement is one-sided. In case if you aren’t the party who initially write the agreement, to your surprise, you might find out later that the agreement is written in a way that favors the other party.
