CKM Mediation & Arbitration Services

CKM provides Arbitration and Mediation for Disputes in Family Law, Personal Injury, Construction, Contracts,
Partnerships, Wills & Trusts, Employment and Real Estate.

Arbitration and Mediation are forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution that are increasingly being used by attorneys
and others to avoid the cost and time involved in litigation through the courts. They are often included in contracts
and even mandated by law, such as in Family Law cases in Whatcom, Skagit and Island Counties and many other Washington counties.

Arbitration hearings are similar to a court trial, but is usually much more informal.
An arbitrator is hired to arbitrate on either a binding or non-binding basis.   After hearing the testimony offered by
both sides and reviewing all of the written evidence, the arbitrator gives his opinion; this may be oral or written.
If the arbitration is binding, that decision may be enforced just as any other court judgment, unless there are errors
of law that are appealed.  If the arbitration is non-binding, either party may take the matter to a further court proceeding. 

Mediation is very different from arbitration.  It is a voluntary process; unless both parties agree in writing to a settlement of the dispute there is no agreement and the parties are free to proceed through the legal system.
Therefore, although in Family Law cases, the parties are required to mediate in good faith, any result is
still voluntary. A mediator is a neutral party that works with the parties to achieve an agreed settlement. 

Mr. Morgan employs the shuttle method whereby the parties are in separate rooms and he moves back and forth
sharing information and attempting to create compromise on the part of both parties. He is an evaluative style
mediator and generally shares his “advisory” opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the dispute. However, as a Mediator he has no power to impose a resolution as he would if he were engaged as an Arbitrator.