Felicia Harris Hoss on Helping Companies Resolve Disputes Before Litigation Escalates

In this conversation, attorney, mediator, and arbitrator Felicia Harris Hoss explains why businesses should think about dispute resolution before litigation consumes time, money, and attention. Drawing on more than two decades of complex commercial litigation experience, she breaks down the differences between arbitration, traditional mediation, and early dispute resolution, or EDR. She explains how EDR can help parties exchange key information, assess legal and business risk, value a dispute, and explore solutions before spending heavily on discovery and trial preparation. The discussion also covers confidentiality, non-monetary settlement options, sunk-cost thinking, and why resolving a dispute early can sometimes produce a better business outcome than winning in court.TakeawaysLitigation can be slow, expensive, and largely outside the control of the parties involved.Arbitration functions much like a private court, with an arbitrator hearing evidence and issuing a decision.Mediation gives the parties more control because they negotiate the outcome rather than leaving it to a judge or jury.Early dispute resolution aims to move mediation upstream, before full discovery and major legal expenses occur.EDR can use a structured process that identifies key issues, exchanges important documents, analyzes risk, and supports informed negotiation.Parties do not need perfect information to make sound settlement decisions, but they do need enough information to understand their risks.Mediation can produce business solutions that courts often cannot, including contract changes, payment plans, recommendations, and collaborative commercial arrangements.Mediation discussions remain confidential and generally cannot be used later in court as admissions made during settlement talks.Sunk costs, ego, and escalation of commitment can keep companies fighting disputes long after settlement may make more sense.EDR is not right for every matter, especially true bet-the-company disputes, but many cases may benefit from earlier negotiation and risk assessment.Today's guest, Felicia Harris Hoss, can be found at:Website: https://harrishosspllc.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicia-harris-hoss/Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:Website: https://scottturman.com/, https://brightray.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14602682/KeywordsMediation, Arbitration, Early Dispute Resolution, EDR, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Litigation, Business Disputes, Settlement, Negotiation, Litigation Costs, Risk Management, Confidentiality, American Arbitration Association, Legal Strategy