HIGGINS ADR SERVICES
Mediation
Serving as a professional mediator, Mr. Higgins leverages his extensive experience counseling hundreds of businesses, boards, and senior executives, helping to amicably resolve dozens of complex commercial disputes, to assist parties with finding their collaborative resolution for all types of business conflict.
Generally, Mr. Higgins will first meet privately with each party to gain insight and understanding of their position, including its relative strengths and weaknesses, and will then seek to facilitate a collaborative resolution in one or more group sessions. Mr. Higgins works closely with the parties to set parameters for the mediation process, including written submissions, ex parte discussions, oral presentations, and mediation stipulations. Mr. Higgins also offers parties the opportunity to receive a mediator’s proposal or convert the mediation process to binding dispute resolution if there is an impasse in the mediation process.
Arbitration
Serving as a professional independent arbitrator, Mr. Higgins leverages his experience representing dozens of claimants and respondents in commercial arbitration disputes before AAA, ICDR, JAMS, and FINRA-DR, as well as a twenty-two-year career of litigating cases through trial and judgment in state and federal courts across the country, to bring fairness and an unwavering commitment to reasoned decision-making in every arbitration.
Mr. Higgins’ dispute resolution philosophy is to work collaboratively but firmly with the parties to streamline the arbitration process wherever possible while still respecting the need for proper disclosure and fair and reasoned adjudication of the facts and the law. Mr. Higgins has significant experience navigating complicated fact patterns and complex legal claims and deeply understands the unique challenges that come with resolving and adjudicating such disputes.
Consulting
Mr. Higgins leverages his extensive experience navigating complex commercial disputes to provide a confidential assessment of any matter, as well as potential go-forward strategic alternatives based on the facts and circumstances a party may face.
Mr. Higgins also serves as a settlement consultant for matters already involving threatened or active litigation, either engaged as a one-party settlement advisor or as a jointly engaged neutral settlement negotiator. Mr. Higgins typically conducts neutral settlement engagements as informal negotiations, presenting an informed and reasoned neutral approach to settlement after assessing the basic strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ positions as well as the procedural posture of the matter and realistic potential for resolution.