"Breaking up is always hard to do, but it is very possible that it is hardest when you're breaking up with your business partner," David Mielach writes in his article on "divorce of the business kind." Mediator Richard Lord agrees, and remarks on the options that mediation creates in such a situation: "In his article,
Why Mediation Might Be Best For Business Partner Breakups, Mr. Mielach addresses some of the reasons business partners dissolving their relationship should prefer mediation over traditional litigation. Beyond the benefits touched on in the article, mediation creates options limited only by the creativity and willingness of the parties. While it may be difficult to collaborate and be creative with someone you are at odds with, it may help partners seeking dissolution to view themselves each as a separate business with an opportunity before it. Mediation can allow the reconciliation of divergent interests in a businesslike, collaborative way, akin to making a business deal with a new customer, vendor or business partner. The dissolution can be viewed more as a business project than as a failure followed by a fight. This stands in stark contrast to the divisive positional fight in the courtroom where the process is designed to have a winner and a loser picked through an adjudicatory process, which often involves damagingly high costs for the loser and fleeting benefits for the victor. For business partners, litigation should be seen as an alternative to mediation, not the other way around. Done early enough, it may just avert the dissolution all together."
Read more:
http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/legal-hr/2012/05/18/why-mediation-might-be-best-for-business-partner-breakups/
