Original Article: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/mediation-can-help-preserve-or-even-repair-relationships
IF A silver lining may be traced from the dark clouds of the pandemic, it is that Covid-19 has catalysed a change in the mindset of businesses.
Companies are changing the way they do business, with the realisation that the world is unlikely to return to its pre-Covid-state. One mindset shift is in dispute resolution.
In the past two years, more businesses are adopting mediation as the first port-of-call.
At the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) for example, the caseload reflects a growing appetite for mediation to resolve commercial disputes during the Covid-19 period.
This year, SIMC has been receiving 1 to 2 cases a week. This is far more frequent than in the preceding years and a far cry from 2015 (SIMC’s first full year in operation), when 5 cases were filed.
The cases run the gamut of industry sectors and are becoming more complex, as indicated by the dispute values. In the first 10 months of this year, the average amount being disputed in SIMC’s mediations is about US$55 million – more than 3 times that of 2019 (about US$17 million). Overall, the total dispute value stands at about US$6.2 billion since SIMC’s incorporation. These high-value cases include a recent mediation between US and South Korean parties involving claims of around US$1 billion. Mediation is even catching on for disputes between foreign investors and states, with SIMC successfully mediating a large case between an investor and a foreign government (not Singapore).