We're independent - we don't represent learners or education providers. Instead we use our expertise differently to resolve contractual and financial disputes. We use two processes. The first is our Talk – Meet – Resolve process and if agreement is not reached, we use our second process called Listen – Decide where an independent adjudicator will determine the outcome of the dispute after listening to both sides.
We provide two dispute resolution services
There are many different ways of resolving a dispute depending on the different role of the independent expert. These include "consensus-based" processes where our experts help people reach agreement and "determinative" processes where our independent adjudicator listens to both sides and then decides the outcome.
Conciliation: Conciliation is different from adjudication and mediation. Instead of deciding the dispute like a judge or just leaving people to come up with their own answer like mediation, our Conciliators use their expertise to work together with you and your education provider with a view to reaching an enduring solution. Our Conciliators make sure that any agreement reached makes sense and that it reflects everyone's rights and obligations. We call this service "Talk – Meet – Resolve".
Adjudication: This where the independent person (a bit like a judge) listens to what people have to say and then makes a binding decision for them. We call this service "Listen - Decide".
Conciliation with Talk – Meet – Resolve
Who is a Conciliator?
A Conciliator is an independent expert in the legal system who is experienced in resolving disputes.
All of our Conciliators have significant legal experience and expertise in the legal system and have been involved in thousands of disputes. They can rely on this experience and help the parties reach an understanding of each other's perspectives and the possible ways to resolve the issues.
What is Talk – Meet – Resolve?
Conciliation is a timely, informal and accessible process. It is a different way to resolve disputes than most people in New Zealand will have experienced. It is a process where the people in the dispute are actively involved in trying to find a resolution. This is different to a process where the people are trying to convince someone else (an adjudicator or a judge) that they are right and the other person is wrong.
Our Conciliators are independent experts who are there to help. They serve as a resource person for both sides and keep people talking. Our Conciliators will have significant knowledge about the matters in dispute and understand people's rights and obligations. If the people involved agree, our Conciliators can suggest solutions particularly when the people involved have reached a stalemate. There are different forms of Conciliation, but we have created our Talk – Meet – Resolve process because we know from experience that it works best.
Why do we use our Talk - Meet - Resolve process?
We use our Conciliation process first because we know it works. Our people have been involved in thousands of disputes (as adjudicators and legal representatives) and tried all sorts of ways of solving problems. Through our experience, we know that getting the people involved together as soon as possible, and in a way that they can communicate effectively with the help of an independent expert, is what gives people the best chance of sorting out the problem.
Adjudication with Listen - Decide
Who is an Adjudicator
An Adjudicator is an independent expert in the legal system who is experienced in resolving disputes. They resolve the dispute by determining the outcome.
All of our Adjudicators have significant legal experience and expertise in the legal system and have been involved in thousands of disputes. They can rely on this experience and help the parties reach an understanding of each other's perspectives and the possible ways to resolve the issues.
What is Listen - Decide?
Listen - Decide is our adjudication service. It provides a timely, informal and accessible process that is normally used following our conciliation process. This is sometimes described as a process where people are trying to convince someone else (an independent decision maker) that they are right and the other person involved in the dispute is wrong.
Why do we use Listen – Decide?
We use Listen – Decide when a dispute is not appropriate for Talk – Meet – Resolve or when Talk – Meet – Resolve does not result in people reaching resolution. Our adjudicators have been involved in thousands of disputes so we use their experience and expertise to determine the outcome.
We know that people need to be heard and listened to and sometimes they need someone else to make a decision for them. We created our Listen - Decide service to do this.