As businesses grapple with uncertain and rapidly changing times, disputes that arise need swift, effective and clear resolution. Settling such disputes through arbitration and mediation demand an expert with the highest levels of technical skill and professionalism. Amit, Pollak, Matalon & Co. (“APM & Co.”) is your expert.
After more than five decades’ experience in litigation, APM & CO. founder and senior partner, Adv. Aharon Polak has engaged exclusively in arbitration and mediation for many years now, and clients thrive under his leadership and guiding principles, which include:
1. Recognize the legal and factual arguments of a case. In private conversations with each of the parties, without the presence of the other party, we analyze and reflect on the legal and factual situation. Needless to say, the content of these conversations is confidential to the opposing party, subject to the express permission of the litigant regarding what and how much is disclosed to the opposing party, with the principal motive of the litigants to achieve the best possible outcome for themselves;
2. Make a massive effort to turn the conflict into a controversy. By doing so, you remove the motive of the litigant to harm or punish the other party, as is common in disputes. The focus is on reconciliation and achieving the best result;
3. Negotiate effectively with each of the parties and directly appeal to those who have the decisive opinion; and
4. Build a bridge between the position of the litigant and his attorney. It often turns out that the plaintiff can be more extreme than his attorney. Real life experience shows us that lawyers are more compromising than clients, due to their knowledge of a potentially unpredictable legal system. In such cases, the attorney is assisted by the authority of the mediator in his attempts to reach a compromise.
In arbitration, Aharon invests a great deal of effort in the efficiency of the arbitration process. Together with the parties’ attorneys, he sets clear deadlines for each stage of the proceedings.
One factor deterring litigants from taking the path of arbitration is that there is right of appeal against an arbitration award even, if the arbitrator made an error in his ruling. With that in mind, Aharon has strived, for years, to persuade the Department of Justice and Supreme Court justices to amend the Arbitration Act in a way that would allow an arbitral award to be appealed by right. Thus far, the struggle has been only partly successful.
In recent years, Aharon has resolved a broad range of civil disputes through mediation and arbitration, including complex disputes between large Israeli companies and businesses; he has found effective
ways for partners and shareholders who are separating to share assets and resources; and he has reached creative and cost-effective solutions relating to the allocation of property and assets for spouses who break up after many years of marriage.
