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If your international dispute exceeds $1.000.000, each party will on average spend $1.000.000 in legal fees and lose at least six months for arbitration or two years for litigation. Then the loosing party will probably try to avoid the execution of the award resulting in additional costs and putting into doubt the value of the formal victory.
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In litigation or arbitration there are inevitably the winner and the looser. 
The winner

...often wins at a heavy cost of wast expenses as well as a lot of time and effort. As a result the value of the victory plummets. A $1.000.000 today is worth much more than the same $1.000.000 in a year's time and after $500.000 have been invested into litigating for it.

After winning the litigation/arbitration the winning party faces a new difficult task - enforcing the award. Often it is the most difficult and the most expensive part of the whole dispute.
The looser

...not only faces the necessity of either complying with the decision or award or trying to avoid it, which requires new resources. The loosing party also risks costs allocation and often - loss of reputation.

In some cases aggregate losses of the losing party can exceed the amount in dispute up to threefold.
In our practice we have seen disputes where the parties bore multimillion litigation costs only to acquire decisions that were not complied with and went on bearing costs in attempts to enforce them.

Sometimes the plaintiff managed to enforce the decision. In such cases the plaintiff in the end of the dat only got a fraction of the amount in dispute and the defendant bore losses many times the amount.

Sometimes the defendant managed to avoid enforcement. In such cases the plaintiff lost everything: both the amount in dispute and the costs whereas the defendant only kept a small percentage of the amount and lost a good deal of reputation.
Far too often litigation or arbitration turn into war of attrition in which the prize doesn't cover the costs.
Why Mediation?
Mediation is a method of alternative dispute resolution which allows to obtain a binding agreement without spending years and millions of dollars for litigation and arbitration. An independent expert - mediator - is trained to structure the negotiations in a constructive way that will allow parties to come to terms and find a creative win-win decision without giving up vital interests. In most cases mediation in our Center does not exceed one month.
High Rate of Voluntary Compliance
According to different estimates more than 80% of disputes submitted to mediation settle, and such settlement agreements are complied with voluntarily.
Mediated Agreements are Enforceable
A mediated agreement signed with the help of a licensed mediator and notarized is directly enforceable in Russia. In England mediated agreements are enforceable as contracts.
Solve a Stalemate in Negotiations
If negotiations are not moving the issue forward it may be productive to get a neutral professional trained to help find non-obvious decisions involved.
Bring Elongated Litigation to an End
If the case is already being herd before a court or arbitral tribunal but there is no longer hope to have it resolved quickly the parties can mediate the case and get a award based on such mediated agreement. It will be binding just as a regular award.
High Rate of Voluntary Compliance
According to different estimates more than 80% of disputes submitted to mediation settle, and such settlement agreements are complied with voluntarily.
Mediated Agreements are Enforceable
A mediated agreement signed with the help of a licensed mediator and notarized is directly enforceable in Russia. In England mediated agreements are enforceable as contracts.
Solve a Stalemate in Negotiations
If negotiations are not moving the issue forward it may be productive to get a neutral professional trained to help find non-obvious decisions involved.
Bring Elongated Litigation to an End
If the case is already being herd before a court or arbitral tribunal but there is no longer hope to have it resolved quickly the parties can mediate the case and get a award based on such mediated agreement. It will be binding just as a regular award.
High Rate of Voluntary Compliance

According to different estimates more than 80% of disputes submitted to mediation settle, and such settlement agreements are complied with voluntarily.
Solve a Stalemate in Negotiations

If negotiations are not moving the issue forward it may be productive to get a neutral professional trained to help find non-obvious decisions involved.
Mediated Agreements are Enforceable

A mediated agreement signed with the help of a licensed mediator and notarized is directly enforceable in Russia. In England mediated agreements are enforceable as contracts.
Bring Elongated Litigation to an End

If the case is already being herd before a court or arbitral tribunal but there is no longer hope to have it resolved quickly the parties can mediate the case and get a award based on such mediated agreement. It will be binding just as a regular award.
More About the Procedure
How is Mediation Organized
Mediation is a flexible procedure which we tailor to the individual needs and desires of our clients. However, all mediations have several stages in common
1
Consent
Mediation is voluntary. Before proceeding to familiarizing ourselves with the case we make sure that mediation is the true intention of the parties and make a contract. At this stage we also answer all possible questions. 
This part normally takes up to one hour.
2
Listening
So called "uninterrupted time of the parties" follows during which each party has an opportunity to describe their position without being interrupted.
3
Documents
In commercial disputes it is not uncommon for mediators to study some documents in order to get a better sense of the dispute. The time required will vary depending on the amount of documents.
4
Agenda
Drafting of agenda follows. At this stage parties decide what questions they are going to discuss in course of the mediation. This stage normally takes from one to two hours.
5
Solving the Conflict
Having discovered the differences we will proceed to finding decisions. The parties who come this far in most cases already understand that the dispute can be settled to mutual benefit and are actively searching for win-win scenarios.
6
Signing of the Agreement
A mediated agreement by default makes a contract and it is sufficient most of the times. However, if the parties want they can have their agreement mediated by a licensed mediator notarized. In this case it becomes directly enforceable in Russia. Also, if a dispute that is already being heard in front of a court or an arbitral tribunal the agreement can be signed in the form of a settlement agreement. This way mediated agreement also becomes binding.
7
Why not Celebrate?
Many our clients celebrate the reached agreements together. And this is the best reward to us!
When Mediation is Obligatory?
Some jurisdictions promote mediation by making it obligatory or strongly encouraged in some cases
Obligatory Mediation
In some cases courts of some countries might reject a statement of claim unless the parties have tried to mediate the dispute beforehand. Examples include some Nordic countries.
Costs Allocation
In some countries including England courts will take into account attempts to mediate at the stage of costs allocation. The courts will consider: if such offer was made, if it was accepted, if the parties attempted mediation in good faith.
Parties' Agreement
If according to the parties' agreement mediation is compulsory, a court or an arbitral tribunal will reject a claim unless it is proven that such an attempt has been made.
When mediation will not work?
Alas, there are situations when mediation is unlikely to work out
Delay a Trial
Mediation is designed for speedy resolution of differences and we task ourselves with finding a solution of any dispute however complex in the timeframe of one month. If this is not the aim of the parties, mediation might not be the best option.
Lack of Interest in Settlement
Unfortunately, there are cases where war is waged for the sake of war itself, for the sake of ruining the enemy at all cost however devastating for both parties. We expect parties to cooperate, and although we have some positive experience in bringing seemingly mortal enemies to the table of negotiations mediation requires some level of cooperation from the outset.
What if we cannot settle?
Not every mediation procedure results in settlement of each and every difference. On the other hand, in every case in our experience the parties came to terms in respect of at least some issues striking them out from the dispute agenda. According to different estimates using mediation saves at least several months and several hundred thousand dollars in litigation/arbitration costs even if it ends up in only partial agreement.