Many different types of cases are tried in courts throughout the United States. In some instances, however, mediation is encouraged as an effective means to resolve disputes. Personal injury cases, for example, may be handled out of court on a pre-trial basis. Family court and environmental safety cases may both benefit from mediation as well.
Family Court Cases
There are a variety of reasons why someone may need to attend family court. This includes situations such as divorce, child custody, visitation rights, and child or spousal support. When juveniles have been truant from school, involved in malicious mischief or another type of crime, they may also be required to attend family court. Mediation may be recommended in a large percentage of these situations.
Environmental Safety Cases
Recent data indicates that over 40% of Americans are worried about the following environmental conditions and substances:
- Carbon emissions
- Indoor and outdoor air quality
- Methane emissions
- Particulate matter
- Radon
- Refrigerants
- Sulfur oxides
- Tropospheric ozone
- Volatile organic compounds
As a result of being exposed to various toxins, there are a considerable number of individuals that have developed respiratory and heart disease. If industrial plants were to reduce their toxic air pollution, experts report that thousands of these cases could be prevented. Furthermore, this could also save roughly 5,000 lives every year. Alternative dispute resolution could have a potentially positive outcome with this and related issues.
A Brief Overview of Federal Civil Cases
The number of federal civil cases that go to trial has decreased since 1962. At that time, 11.5% of these cases went to trial. Currently, experts report that approximately one percent of federal civil cases are tried in Federal courts. While the reasons for this decline do vary, an increase in arbitration has likely made an impact.
Services Available to General Counsel
There are situations where general counsel would benefit from receiving arbitration and mediation services from experienced judges. This may particularly be beneficial when counsel has a complex commercial case. Intellectual property cases, real estate disputes, and securities-related transactions are just a few of these types of situations. Your firm may, for example, be interested in having a mock trial hearing or a mediator standing by to provide guidance and additional legal advice.
