Atlanta Business Attorney Blog

Many people in the Atlanta area turn exclusively to the courts to solve business disputes and overlook arbitration as a means of effective alternative dispute resolution. Arbitration can be an effective means of dispute resolution, especially for parties who desire a fast resolution on a complex issue. The Official Code of Georgia, which generally states the laws of Georgia, contains a section laying out the necessary procedures for arbitration in Georgia. This section is generally referred to as the Georgia Arbitration Code, and is located at O.C.G.A. §9-9-1, et seq.

Arbitration, though very similar to the court system, can provide parties involved in business disputes with some unique advantages. First, it is the parties who dictate how they want the arbitration to proceed by designing their own timelines. Unlike in the Georgia court system, where it typically takes at least a year (or sometimes much longer) for a case to proceed to trial, the parties to an arbitration can schedule a final arbitration hearing within a few months after initiating the arbitration process. This is why many business contracts specify that arbitration is the required form of dispute resolution if a conflict arises. The caveat to this faster resolution is that unlike the court system – which is funded by taxpayer dollars and where parties need only pay nominal filing fees – arbitration associations are typically private business enterprises that require the parties to pay for the time of the arbitrator, who typically bills at a rate of several hundred dollars per hour.

Another advantage to arbitration is that the parties can select an arbitrator who has specialized training or experience in a technical or specialized area of the law. This is in marked contrast to the court system where judges, though generally knowledgeable on the law, may not have any pertinent experience related to a complex business matter, such as construction, intellectual property or employment. When parties use the court system, it is also important to note that they have no say in which judge is ultimately appointed to oversee their cases, while in arbitration, the parties typically collaborate in choosing a specific arbitrator.

Many people in the metro-Atlanta area turn exclusively to the courts to solve business disputes and overlook other forms of effective alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation and arbitration. A pro to using mediation or arbitration is that resolutions can be reached much faster than in the court system, whereas a con is that the parties will have to pay for the time of third-party neutral (mediator or arbitrator), as opposed to a judge who does not charge for his services.

Mediation is designed to allow the parties to reach their own agreement in a confidential environment. This is a huge advantage over the court system, where the parties have no control over the ultimate ruling of the judge aside from presenting their cases. Instead, mediation is a cooperative process where the parties (and their attorneys) meet with a mediator who helps them work toward a settlement. The mediator effectively guides the parties through the process by assessing each party’s position, pointing out how the dispute would likely play out in a court of law and keeping communication open between the parties. The mediator does not represent either party, and all possible settlements and issues discussed between the parties are not admissible in a court. It is a testament to this form of alternative dispute resolution that many courts encourage mediation, including the courts of Gwinnett County, which publish a list of approved mediators online.

Arbitration is more similar to the court system than mediation. In this process, the parties select one or more arbitrators to act as judges in resolving their disputes. These arbitrators are usually experts and/or attorneys practicing in a specific legal area, which can be beneficial to the parties if the dispute is of a technical or specialized nature. The parties work with the arbitrators to determine how they want the arbitration process to unfold, including the time period and what procedures they want to use in conducting discovery and hearings. Ultimately, the parties present their cases to the arbitrators, who then issue a decision and determine the outcome. Though it is possible to conduct a non-binding arbitration, it is more common to see binding arbitration.