Practice Areas
Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution.
A confidential, party-driven process for settling disputes outside the courtroom — commercial, cross-border and international mediation, handled at the highest professional standard.
What Is Mediation
A confidential path to resolution.
Mediation is a confidential alternative dispute resolution process, where a neutral third person known as a mediator assists the parties to settle their dispute. The parties have the opportunity to present the issues of their case, converse about their interests, understandings and feelings, provide each other with information, and explore premises for the settlement of their dispute.
How It Works
The main characteristics of mediation.
Confidential. Whatever happens in mediation, stays in mediation — information gathered cannot be used outside it, save for public-policy questions.
Oral. No minutes are kept.
Voluntary. Based on the free will of the parties — anyone may walk out of mediation at any point.
Neutral. The mediator is independent and must remain impartial throughout the process.
Fair. Due-process principles, particularly equal treatment of the parties, are observed by everyone involved.
The Process
How a mediation actually unfolds.
During the process, the mediator simplifies the settlement of the parties' dispute by supervising the exchange of information and the bargaining process — facilitating common ground while managing unrealistic expectations, and helping draft the terms of settlement. The mediator neither decides the matter nor issues a binding judgment; unlike litigation, the parties and their mediator control the process itself — when and where it takes place, who is present, and how it unfolds.
Sessions typically begin jointly, with the mediator explaining the process and helping set ground rules, before moving to separate sessions — shuttling between the parties and relaying whatever information they ask to be relayed.
Six Steps
The formal mediation, step by step.
Introductory remarks
Statement of the problem
Information gathering
Identification of the issues
Bargaining and options
Reaching an agreement
If the parties reach an agreement, the mediator may help reduce it to a written contract, enforceable in court.
Institutions
Mediation can also be run under an arbitration/mediation institution:
What We Handle
Three areas of focus.
I
Commercial mediation
A firm understanding of the needs and interests of commercial people, built on our long-standing specialisation in business law — corporate disputes, agency and distribution, sales and lease contracts, construction and intellectual property.
II
International mediation
Grounded in Dr. Haris Meidanis's academic background in Private International Law and his professional experience with cross-border cases — one of very few mediators in Greece equally at ease with the differing cultural backgrounds a cross-border dispute brings.
III
Compulsory mediation
For commercial cases before the Greek courts of €30,000 or more, an initial mediation meeting is compulsory under Law 4640/2019 — parties must appoint a mediator before the hearing to examine whether the case is suitable for mediation.
