Mediation is a flexible process conducted confidentially in which a neutral person, the Mediator, actively assists the parties in working towards a negotiated agreement of a dispute or difference, with the parties in ultimate control of the decision to settle and the terms of resolution.

The principal features of mediation are that it:

• involves a neutral third party, known as the Mediator, to facilitate negotiations;

• is quick to set up and is inexpensive, without prejudice and confidential;

• involves party representatives with sufficient authority to settle;

• is flexible, with no set procedure, enabling the process to be designed and managed by the Lebanese Mediation Center (LMC) in coordination with the Mediator to suit the parties, in consultation with them;

• enables the parties to devise solutions which are not possible in an adjudicative process such as litigation or arbitration, and which may benefit all the parties, particularly if there is the possibility of a continuing relationship between them;

• can be used in both domestic and cross‐border disputes, two‐party and multi‐party disputes, and whether or not litigation or arbitration has been commenced.