I’ve been talking about the advantages of Virtual Dispute Resolution for some time now. One of the most obvious, and important, is that it no longer matters where the participants are located. They can literally be located anywhere in the world, and can all be brought together instantly through Zoom.
I recently had the privilege of mediating a multi-participant dispute in which some of the participants were in various locations in California, but another was in Viet Nam. Because he had been living and working there for some time he had become acclimated to adjusting to time zone differences for business, so the fact that the mediation was an “all-nighter” for him was a non-issue. After several challenging hours we reached resolution, counsel prepared a full-blown Settlement Agreement and Mutual General Release which they negotiated real-time in my virtual “Mediator’s Room,” I circulated the agreement to all via DocuSign, all signatures were obtained within a matter of minutes, and the dispute was over.
What struck me afterward was that one participant’s being in Viet Nam made zero difference to the process; if he had been in San Francisco or San Rafael the process would have played out exactly the same. This was a perfect example of how Virtual Dispute Resolution has made the physical location of the participants irrelevant to the process.
As always, I remain dedicated to providing the best possible ADR services in the format that best suits the parties’ needs, whether through Virtual Dispute Resolution or in person, when it is safe to do so.
As always, I remain dedicated to providing the best possible ADR services in the format that best suits the parties’ needs, whether through Virtual Dispute Resolution or in person when it is safe to do so. I look forward to working with you.