No employer wants to find themselves embroiled in litigation of an employment-related dispute. Legal disputes can ruin a company, family or an individual. In addition to being extremely costly, employment litigation can be enormously time consuming and distracting for those company employees who are witnesses and/or otherwise critical to the employer’s case. Moreover, employment-related disputes often can take several years or more to be resolved, particularly if litigated in the courts.
As a result, many employers seek to resolve these disputes through some form of alternative dispute resolution or “ADR” which typically offers a more informal, efficient and less adversarial way of allowing parties to resolve their disputes prior to or in conjunction with litigation. In fact, given the explosion of cases finding their way into court dockets and the dwindling resources available to handle these cases, most courts (and most government agencies) encourage or require litigants – typically near to the outset of the litigation – to participate in some form of mediation presided over by a neutral, third party tasked to try to facilitate a voluntary and mutually agreeable solution between the litigants.
Furthermore, statistically, the vast majority of employment cases settle informally before trial. Moreover, given the numerous drawbacks associated with litigation, in certain limited circumstances, it may be advantageous to explore settling a matter on more favorable terms before it escalates to litigation, particularly given that settlements can expressly conditioned on the terms and conditions being confidential.
At the same time, many employers seek to have some or all of their employees to sign – as a condition of employment – agreements whereby the employer and employee agree that some or all employment-related disputes will be resolved by way of binding arbitration. While there are pros and cons for all methods for resolving employment-related disputes, arbitration enables an employer to avoid the prospect of a “runaway jury” and can provide more flexibility and less formality than a court proceeding. In many cases, arbitration can lead to a more speedy resolution of a particular dispute.
How We Help Our Clients
At Miller Legal Group, P.C., we draft arbitration and mediation agreements and procedures to help clients better control litigation costs. In addition, when faced with an employment-related dispute, we provide our clients with frank, objective analysis of both the strengths and vulnerabilities of they and their opponents’ positions as well as the various alternative strategies which are available.
Where it is deemed advantageous and desirable to explore early resolution of a dispute, we work to conserve client resources and to create a proper environment within which a truly advantageous settlement can occur. Irrespective of the circumstances, we use our skills and experience to provide a clear analysis of our clients’ options and focused, effective representation to protect our clients’ interests and assisting them in achieving a satisfactory resolution of their dispute through settlement, mediation, arbitration and/or litigation.
* * *
Contact a Los Angeles and Orange County Employment Arbitration Attorney
For more information about our areas of practice, our alternative fee options, or to schedule an initial consultation with an experienced Torrance employment and HR law attorney at Miller Legal Group, P.C., please contact us at our South Bay employment law firm by e-mail or by telephone at (310) 426-2650.