Predictable outcomes. Sensible costs. Timely delivered.
We enhance your ability to prevent, manage, and resolve disputes.

The risk presented by disputes is a challenge that all international businesses face. Whether large or small, disputes can and should be resolved with the highest standards of integrity. Complying with national and international laws, and modern standards of diversity and environmental-friendly conduct, is not only the right thing to do, it also leads to high quality, fair, and efficient resolutions.

In 2001, Prof. Michael Wheeler of the Harvard Business School issued a two-part case study of how General Electric had adopted a Six-Sigma based approach to disputes.  By taking a systemic approach to assessing cases and promoting early, informal methods of resolution – particularly negotiation and mediation – GE reported savings in the double-digit millions each year.  Prof. Wheeler’s case study profiled how Michael Mcilwrath took the principles developed at GE’s headquarters in the US, and adapted them to the international commercial disputes faced by Nuovo Pignone, an international oil and gas equipment and services company that GE had recently acquired in Italy.  Within a year of being introduced, Nuovo Pignone also reported a substantial reduction in its disputes, better outcomes, and a considerable savings in its legal spend. More about

Today, the same principles are applied to MDisputes, favoring clear-eyed legal and technical assessments, and focusing on dispute prevention and early resolution always with an eye on sound commercial objectives.

HOW WE DO IT

We apply business-thinking to disputes.

Our belief is that every dispute should have an estimate of the likely costs and outcome, and paths to a successful resolution.

We work from clearly-defined deliverables, with the objective of resolving disputes early, before substantial costs are incurred.

We also believe in the value of taking disputes as opportunities to learn, improve, and prevent conflicts from arising in the future.

OUR CLIENTS

Managing and resolving disputes time and cost effectively can be achieved by all companies, even though the steps to undertake vary substantially depending on the company’s size, structure, region, and area of business.

MDisputes designs and delivers solutions tailored to the client’s features, taking into account its efforts and investment capacity and providing operational support when needed.

OUR SERVICES

01. International Contracts Claims

MDisputes provides a range of support for assessing the risks presented by disputes, before substantial costs are incurred.

Amicable Settlement

Contrary to common belief, settling a dispute by non-adjudicative methods is by no means a sign of weakness, but rather a powerful way of being in control of the dispute and its outcome. Negotiation and mediation are very effective tools which are often overlooked.  Being well-prepared for a negotiation or mediation meeting provides the opportunity to explore alternative avenues to resolve a dispute and allows for valuable information gathering.

Early Case Assessment

Businesses expect predictability.  Early Case Assessments (ECA) is a tool for understanding the likely risks and costs of a dispute. It is especially valuable in larger and more complex disputes, but can also be adapted for use in lower value disputes.

Supply Chain

Some businesses face disproportionately high costs when dealing with low value/high volume cases. One area where this is common is supply-chain disputes.

MDisputes can advise on the adoption of streamlined procedures to make these disputes less expensive to resolve. One example is by adopting Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) procedures, which can be built into a business’ standard contract.

Energy Transition

With decades of experience in large-scale energy projects, MDisputes assists private and public entities with disputes arising from projects related to decarbonization and climate change.

02. Dispute Management

MDisputes’ staff and international network of collaborators have many decades of experience – and global reputations – in international litigation, arbitration, and mediation. We can assist in developing successful strategies before appointing counsel, experts, and arbitrators.

MDisputes assists with considerations of appropriate expertise, bandwidth, and whether the likely costs are proportionate to the amount in dispute, before appointments are made.

Collaboration with external counsel to keep costs under control

Hiring external counsel support may be necessary and inevitable for many disputes. MDisputes can provide the tools and know-how to help identify the appropriate resources and negotiate optimal rates and Alternative Fee Agreements (AFA’s).

We can help businesses – small, medium, and large – achieve significant cost-reductions while ensuring the highest quality and integrity of legal work.

Avoding costs in document review & production

In many parts of the world, discovery is not a common practice, keeping the total costs of disputes relatively low. Where document disclosure is likely to occur in a dispute, however, the costs can be burdensome if not effectively managed.

MDisputes assists in identifying optimal methods and vendors for gathering and reviewing documents, and establishing reasonable and realistic budgets for document phases of international arbitration & litigation.

Governance & reporting

MDisputes can help build internal procedures that ensure accurate tracking, reporting, and provisioning of disputes.  MDisputes can also help organizations drive important principles, such as diversity, environmental-friendliness, and ethical standards in relation to dispute management & resolution.

Disclosure MDisputes has no relationship or financial interests with any selected professionals. MDisputes acts only in the interest of its clients, and can assist in the selection of the most suitable professionals for a specific case. Any decision on appointment is made by the client and MDisputes does not profit from any such decisions.

03. Arbitration & Litigation Financing

Third party financing is often available to private and public company to make it possible for them to pursue or defend their claims in court and arbitration.

MDisputes assists businesses in understanding the available options and approaching companies that may offer financing.  We also provide support in preparing claims for funding consideration.

Disclosure MDisputes has no relationship or financial interests with any financing entities. MDisputes acts only in the interest of its clients, and can assist in understanding whether proposed financing terms may not be suitable or favorable.

04. Training

MDisputes offers decades of experience in training company employees and counsel in commercial negotiations and disputes.  We can provide training negotiating international contracts, drafting documents to avoid and defend claims, and improving the ability of employees to negotiate better outcomes on their own.

MDisputes can also assist in developing tailor-made trainings that address the unique challenges faced by a business.