Alternative Dispute Resolution
Sensitive matters – particularly family disputes – often can be resolved outside of the formal, public, and (often) costly litigation process. In mediation, a neutral mediator facilitates or guides the parties in resolving their conflict without incurring the expense, delay, and uncertainty of litigation. In arbitration, an independent decision-maker will render a legally-binding and enforceable award to conclusively resolve the dispute.
With the addition of the Honorable Stanley Ott (Ret.) to our ranks, Mannion Prior is well-equipped to mediate disputes involving wills, trusts, fees and commissions, and other Orphans’ Court matters. Judge Ott’s affable manner, deep knowledge of trust and estate law and judicial temperament are ideally suited to helping you avoid the expense and loss of privacy that accompany public litigation. Additionally, Mannion Prior attorneys Karl Prior and Obadiah English are certified mediators whose fiduciary litigation experience provides them with the credibility necessary to facilitate dispute resolution.
Arbitration is a form of private dispute resolution in which the parties agree to procedure, but in which an arbitrator makes a final decision. The process can be as formal or informal as the parties agree, including the taking of testimony and/or submission of documents.
The Honorable Stanley R. Ott (Ret.), with over 30 years of service and experience as an Orphans’ Court judge, is extremely capable of arbitrating your dispute, including will contests, trust and will interpretation matters, and trustee and beneficiary conflicts. Mannion Prior supports Judge Ott with the firms’ substantial resources including our staff of attorneys available to assist in research or serve as co-arbitrators.
2020 has introduced a new set of challenges to the practice of law everywhere. Face-to-face meetings, depositions and mediations – once common – are now unpreferable for clients with health issues or those concerned with travel.
Mannion Prior has established its Virtual Mediation practice, in which a member of our ADR team can conduct a full mediation via Zoom webinar. Proven through recent sessions with the Mannion Prior ADR team, mediation via Zoom allows for parties, their attorneys and a mediator to participate in group and one-on-one discussions in “breakout rooms.”
The online sessions are remarkably similar to what clients would experience if they were down the hall from one another in our office.
