Mitigation avoids litigation!

According to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman's "Access to Justice" report in 2020, the average cost of resolving a business dispute through formal channels now exceeds $130,000, double what it was a decade before. The report found that one in three disputes aren't even pursued because the expected costs of litigation outweigh potential recovery, and even successful litigants typically only recover about two-thirds of their legal costs. This means that for many small businesses, the financial barrier to justice is so high that disputes remain unresolved, regardless of the merits of their case. But before a legal issue ever gets to the point of litigation, there are many sliding door moments where legal risk mitigation strategies could have been employed which may ultimately avoid litigation and a lot of stress and heartache for you as a small business owner. So what exactly does "mitigation" mean in the context of legal issues arising in your small business...