Focus on the fondamental !

Business Assistance is a company and training centre that provides management consultancy and legal & administrative support services to freelancers, SMEs and major corporations.

Our working philosophy centres on the amicable management of disputes and alternative means of resolving them, most notably through mediation.

Our objective is to be receptive to company directors, providing targeted assistance and the breathing space they need to devote themselves to their core business and to remain fully available to carry out their activities.

Recourse to outsourcing offers real flexibility in terms of costs !

With Business Assistance, fixed costs can be converted into variable costs, enabling productivity gains.

For the client company, the benefit lies in dealing with a single, result-oriented contact that offers a range of services.

Een unieke gesprekspartner, een verscheidenheid van diensten!

Lexicon

Arbitration

Arbitration: a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), whereby the parties to a dispute refer it to an arbitral tribunal made up of one or three persons, by whose decision they agree to be bound. The tribunal adjudicates based on the claims of the parties; its decision is binding.  If required, the execution of the settlement can be subject to Specific Performance. (CEPANI)

Collaborative law

Collaborative law is a new form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

 

These days, more and more persons subject to trial expect their council to provide a solution that meets their needs and protects their interests rather than a debate and a confrontation before the courts, with the risk of inappropriate solutions being imposed on them.

 

To meet this expectation, new forms of ADR have been put into place.

 

Initially developed in the USA, collaborative law spread to Canada before reaching Europe.

 

The Family Law Commission of the French Law Society of the Bar of Brussels has committed to the development of Collaborative Law.

 

Collaborative Law is defined as a voluntary and confidential process of conflict resolution through negotiation.

 

This process aligns itself extremely well with the practices of lawyers: it was created by lawyers, for lawyers and their clients.

 

Lawyers involved in Collaborative Law are given an exclusive and limited mandate to assist and council their client, with the sole objective of finding common ground.

 

The cornerstone of the process rests in the role of the lawyer. The former commits to counsel the client with the unique objective of finding a negotiated solution.

 

 

If the process fails, the lawyer may no longer continue to be involved and may not, therefore, defend the interests of the client in a contentious trial.

 

Consequently, the mission of Collaborative Law lawyers is solely to reach an agreement. If the negotiation fails, they must withdraw from the case.

 

Collaborative Law avoids contentious proceedings and ensures the absence of aggressive procedures (or their suspension) but equally the absence of all threats of recourse to any such procedure found in court proceedings.

 

Several principles underlie the Collaborative Law process, of which most notably: teamwork between lawyers, emphasis placed on the needs of the parties and the children, the exchange of information in good faith, confidentiality, the implementation of efficient rules of communication, etc.

 

 

The collaborative law procedure involves several well defined steps.

 

At each step of the procedure the parties are invited to actively participate, to express their respective needs and to hear those of the other party.

 

The lawyers are the moderators, and the guarantors of the process as well as of the legality of the agreements that ensue from it.

 

Conciliation

Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process used in civil litigation, whereby the parties to a dispute agree to utilize the services either of of a judge (For example: divorce conciliation; conciliation before an industrial tribunal; between employer and employee), or a conciliator.

Conciliation can be called upon outside of the courts or during litigation. Conciliation aims to reach a mutual agreement between those in conflict.

Mediation

Mediation: A dynamic and consensual process through which a neutral party (the mediator), assists the willing parties in exchanging their points of view, inlooking for a solution to the conflict that opposes them and in taking full responsibility for it.. (Translated from the acts of the 21/01/2000 Conference of the Association des Juristes Namurois ASBL).

Mediation is a personal process as well as a social one. It is a process that transforms the mediator as much as the involved parties and one which epitomizes both a striving for objectivity and a passion for conciliation. (Translated from l’esprit de la médiation by Jacqueline Morineau)

Means of conflict resolution in which an impartial mediator intervenes in a conflict to help negotiate a fair agreement that is freely and knowingly consented to.

Mediation is a communication technique, a means of restoring dialogue between the persons or parties who are unable or no longer able to communicate, for a variety of reasons. It helps the parties to resolve their difficulties independently, while realizing that they have everything to gain by looking to reach a mutual agreement rather than by being dictated to by a third party, judge or arbitrator.

Negotiation

Negotiation: dialogue aiming to reach an agreement.

Transaction

Transaction : Contract through which the parties end or pre-empt a dispute, by consenting to mutual concessions.