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Some disputes can be resolved by returning to a contract. Others require lawyers, accountants, actuaries and valuation experts. But even after the numbers have been examined and the legal arguments made, something may remain that no spreadsheet can measure: the people involved.
That is where Raziel Oz focuses his work. A mediator and adviser dealing with business and family disputes, he has developed an approach that connects professional conflict resolution with ideas drawn from Jewish thought and Kabbalah.
Whether shareholders are fighting over a company, siblings over an inheritance or parents over the consequences of separation, the legal problem may be only one layer of the conflict. Beneath it can lie fear, pride, damaged trust, disappointment, old family wounds and the need to be heard.
For Oz, understanding these layers complements legal and financial expertise. It helps explain why a dispute has become difficult to resolve and what the parties will need from an agreement.
What exactly is business mediation?
“Business mediation is a process in which two or more parties in conflict try to reach an agreement through negotiation with the assistance of a neutral mediator.
“A mediator is neither a judge nor an arbitrator. I am not there to decide who is right and who is wrong. My role is to understand what really matters to each side and identify where their interests might meet.”
When two business people are already in serious conflict, why should mediation work?
“Very often, the dispute that reaches the mediation room is no longer the one that began. It may have started with money, a business decision or an alleged breach of an agreement. Along the way, anger, disappointment, mistrust, ego and questions of respect have become part of it.
“When you separate these layers and understand what lies behind the positions each side presents, possibilities can emerge that were not visible before.”
Is speed the main advantage of mediation?
“Court proceedings can take a long time, while some mediations can move forward within a few meetings. But the more important difference is control.
“In court, at some point you hand the decision to someone else. In mediation, nobody can force you to sign an agreement. The parties build the solution themselves.”
What about the cost of a dispute?
“A prolonged legal dispute can be extremely expensive, both in lawyers’ fees and professional expenses and in management time, energy and the damage the conflict may cause to the company.
“Sometimes executives spend months or years managing a dispute instead of managing their business. That also has a price.”
How does family mediation differ from business mediation?
“In business, sometimes you can sell the shares, divide the assets and go your separate ways. But brothers remain brothers. Parents remain parents. Children remain part of both families.
“You cannot always close the company, sign an agreement and walk away from the relationship.”
Family disputes can involve wills, inheritances, property and family businesses, as well as separation and parenting. They may raise the same questions of value, ownership and responsibility as commercial disputes, but they can also carry decades of shared history. An argument over an inheritance may contain older questions about who received more attention, who cared for the parents, who sacrificed more or who felt overlooked.
So in an inheritance dispute, money may not be the real issue?
“Sometimes the money is absolutely important. But sometimes the amount carries another story. People may be fighting about recognition, fairness or old wounds they have never discussed.
“If you only discuss the number, you may never understand why the dispute cannot move forward.”
Recognizing these dynamics does not turn the mediator into a therapist. It means acknowledging that the legal issues and the personal conflict may not be identical.
What is at stake when children are involved?
“The question is not only how to end the conflict. It is how to prevent the conflict from becoming the family’s future.”
A couple’s relationship may end, but their responsibilities as parents continue. An agreement can shape birthdays, holidays, school decisions, family relationships and a child’s sense of security for years. For Oz, that makes the future an essential part of the discussion, alongside the division of assets and responsibilities.
Does that focus on the future also apply to business disputes?
“A court has to decide the legal dispute brought before it. In mediation, we can ask another question: What do the parties want to happen the day after the dispute ends?
“A good agreement should look at how the conflict ends and what happens afterward.”
Some partners will still need to work together. Family members may remain co-owners, companies may continue as supplier and client, and siblings may still sit around the same family table. A mediated agreement can sometimes be shaped around those continuing relationships.
What kinds of creative solutions can mediation offer?
“The answer does not always have to be ‘Who pays whom, and how much?’ In a business dispute, you might restructure a partnership, create a mechanism for purchasing shares, spread obligations over time or design a new commercial arrangement.
“In a family dispute, the solution may need to take account of relationships, property, future communication and the needs of the next generation.”
Sometimes, Oz says, the best solution is one a court could not have ordered. This flexibility can be particularly valuable in family businesses, inheritance disputes and closely held companies, where financial interests and personal relationships are closely intertwined.
How do other professionals fit into the process?
“Each professional brings a different form of expertise. My role is to understand the wider picture and help the parties reach a point where they can make a decision.”
Complex disputes may involve lawyers, accountants, actuaries, valuation specialists and financial advisers. Oz their expertise as part of the process, with mediation helping the parties bring the different elements together.
How should someone choose a mediator when significant money or a family relationship is at stake?
“Experience is important, but it is not enough. A mediator has to know how to listen, read people, understand the business or family dynamic and gain the trust of two sides who may no longer trust one another.
“If one side believes the mediator has already decided who is right, you have lost that person.”
Kabbalah and the human side of conflict
Alongside his professional mediation work, Oz draws on ideas from Jewish thought and Kabbalah. In his approach, these ideas offer another perspective on human behavior, ego, responsibility and relationships, alongside the legal and financial analysis a dispute requires.
People arrive in a mediation room with more than a contract. They bring memories, fears, pride and a need for respect or recognition. Sometimes they also need to hear something from the person across the table that a judgment cannot provide.
For Oz, this helps explain the distinction between settling a case and resolving a conflict. Legal and financial professionals can clarify rights and value; mediation also asks what the people involved need in order to live with the outcome.
That question connects business and family mediation. Selling shares may allow business partners to go their separate ways. Family relationships often continue, and children may live with the consequences long after the dispute itself has ended.
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