Commercial Dispute Resolution

Some disputes must be litigated. Many controversies, however, can be resolved by using an alternative dispute resolution process.  The “ADR” procedures are designed to minimize negative fallout and provide benefits that are not otherwise available in litigation. The better you understand your dispute resolution options the better you can manage your particular circumstances. CM&M will assist you by educating you as to the available options, assessing whether alternative dispute resolution would be appropriate for your case, and helping you make a well-informed decision.

When the choice to implement an alternative dispute resolution process proves to be the right decision, ADR provides for a potentially cost-effective management of your controversy through:

• a clear definition of the genesis of the dispute;
• a thorough assessment of the parties’ underlying interests;
• a creative analysis of the short-term and long-term benefits you can obtain and confer; and
• potentially, a negotiated resolution of all open issues, that is flexible, durable, and, if you elect, completely confidential.

The dramatic growth in Commercial Dispute Resolution practice in the past decade is the result of well-informed, sophisticated parties deciding to move beyond a dependency on the adversarial model as the solution to their commercial or matrimonial disputes. Rather than relinquishing control to another party (e.g., a person in a black robe), they take control of the dispute resolution process and manage their conflict with the assistance of a trained, skilled neutral party (e.g., a mediator). Both Mark Carta and Darcy McAlister are trained, certified mediators known for their creative, cost-effective dispute resolutions.

Commercial Mediation

As a commercial trial attorney, Mark is experienced in a broad range of disputes. Mark has served for several years as the Co-Chair of the Fairfield County Bar Association’s ADR Section and is on the ADR Center’s [www.adrcenter.net] panel of approved mediators and arbitrators. He has mediated scores of disputes as a Special Master in Connecticut Federal and State courts since 1990. Through his successful representation of a Greenwich High School student accused of conspiring to publish a hate message in the high school yearbook, Mark participated in a nationally broadcasted television documentary entitled “Healing the Hate”. In addition to handling a myriad of employment discrimination claims and commercial claims, Mark has defended a prominent minister in an ecclesiastic tribunal against expulsion charges and mediated many fiduciary disputes between family members and disputes between attorneys.