The Joint Mediation Helpline Office (“JMHO”) organised a seminar on ‘Resolving Business Disputes by way of Mediation’ on 2 December 2016 at the United Conference Centre, Admiralty. Mr. Oscar Tan, Assistant Honorary Secretary of JMHO, and Ms. Cindy Fong, Mediation Consultant of JMHO, were invited as speakers of the event. More than 30 participants from different sectors, such as property management, accounting, insurance and manufacturing, participated in the seminar.
Mr. Tan explained by way of a typical court case the differences between litigation and mediation in terms of parties’ participation, mode of communication and economic consideration. He said that the parties’ involvement in litigation were lower as their legal representatives played an important part in litigation, whilst in mediation, the parties had much higher participation as they were involved in direct communication. He cited the judgement made by the Hon Mr Justice Lam, V-P in the case that the parties should have explored the much more cost-effective means of mediation to resolve their commercial dispute to illustrate the advantages of resolving commercial disputes by mediation.
Mr. Tan further used three mediation case examples to illustrate how the negotiation skills of mediators could help resolve disputes. He said that the skills of reality testing and active listening were at the heart of every mediation so that parties’ common ground and concerns underlying their legal disputes could be identified and their differences narrowed.
Mr. Tan concluded his sharing by highlighting the advantages of resolving commercial disputes by mediation. He stressed that parties were more willing to comply with the terms in the mediated settlement agreement as the terms were discussed and agreed by the parties in mediation. Business relationship and reputation could also be preserved as mediation was non-adversarial in nature.
Ms. Fong introduced the Mediation Ordinance to the participants. She stressed the importance of confidentiality of mediation and how mediation communications are protected from disclosure by the Ordinance and the exceptions thereto. Apart from the confidential nature of mediation, she further elaborated on the characteristics and the advantages of mediation such as flexibility and voluntariness.
Participants responded actively throughout the seminar. They had better understanding on mediation and were particularly captivated by the detailed case illustrations which facilitated them to better understand the roles of mediators and the advantages of mediation.
Special acknowledgment be given to the Government of HKSAR as the seminar was funded by the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund), which aims at assisting Hong Kong enterprises in exploring and expanding the Mainland market through developing brands, upgrading and restructuring operations, and promoting domestic sales in the Mainland.
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