In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice saved over $12 million in litigation and discovery expenses by choosing to mediate. As my friend and colleague Dan Dozier writes, by selecting alternative dispute resolution instead of going to court the DOJ saved six dollars for every one dollar spent on mediation. Think about it, if you go to court it could be six times more expensive than trying mediation. This statistic alone should get your attention. On top of $12 million in savings, the DOJ also saved over 14,600 days of attorney time and avoided over 1,200 months of litigation! That means they were able to avoid 56 years’ worth of billable hours and 10 years of time in litigation!!
The next time you are wondering if you should go to court or try mediation, take a look at these numbers again. They are by far one of the most compelling examples of how mediation can save you time and money.