Dispute Resolution Insights

Analysis and practical guides on dispute resolution.

3 articles, checklists, and guides on dispute resolution law, written by the attorneys at MC Law. Every piece is general information, not legal advice — for a specific matter, contact the firm.

Dispute ResolutionArbitration and Mediation

Arbitration, Mediation, and Choosing a Dispute-Resolution Forum: A Practical Guide

When a dispute arises, the courtroom is only one of several roads, and often not the best one. This decision guide compares litigation, arbitration, and mediation across the axes that actually drive the choice: cost, speed, privacy, discovery, appealability, and—above all for cross-border deals—enforceability. It explains how the Federal Arbitration Act and the New York Convention make arbitration final and globally enforceable, why Concepcion and Epic Systems reshaped consumer and employment contracts, how mediation confidentiality works and where it breaks, and how mass arbitration turned a cost-control tool into a liability. It closes with a forum-selection framework, worked hypotheticals, drafting guidance, and an FAQ. It is the practical companion to our deeper guides on arbitration mechanics and provider rules.

Casey Scott McKayDecember 21, 202536 min read

Dispute ResolutionArbitration and Mediation

Selecting and Drafting an Arbitration Clause

An arbitration clause is usually the last provision negotiated and the first one that matters when something goes wrong, and most of them are copied from a form that nobody selected for the deal at hand. This guide treats the choice as a real one. It sets out when arbitration is genuinely better than litigation and when it is not, then works through each drafting decision in the order it should be made: scope, seat, administrator and rules, the number and qualifications of arbitrators, discovery and motion practice, confidentiality, remedies, class waivers, consolidation across related contracts, interim and emergency relief, fee allocation, and appellate review. It closes with the drafting failures that produce satellite litigation before the merits are ever reached.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 23, 202425 min read

Dispute ResolutionArbitration and Mediation

Mediation and Settlement: Preparing, Negotiating, and Documenting the Deal

Most cases settle, and most of them settle at mediation, which means the skills that determine outcomes are preparation and negotiation rather than advocacy. This guide covers the process end to end. It explains what mediation is and how it differs from arbitration and from a settlement conference, how to select a mediator for the particular dispute, and what the confidentiality protections actually cover and where they fail. It then addresses preparation in detail, including the case valuation and decision tree analysis that produce a defensible reservation value, the mediation statement, and the authority question that derails more mediations than any substantive disagreement. Later sections cover the day itself, the negotiation dynamics and techniques mediators use, the impasse-breaking tools, and the documentation that turns an agreement in principle into an enforceable settlement.

Casey Scott McKayFebruary 20, 202425 min read