Dump: Throw it out; there is no need to save everything! We often put papers and memos aside and then forget about them. We might occasionally look through stack and we usually end up putting stack off to side again. We still have stack of papers and we just waste time each time we reshuffle stack. If one of other D's doesn't apply to an item, dump it!

Please recycle all paper, cardboard, and whatever else can be recycled instead of just dumping it. Some items may need to be shredded for personal or security reasons. Shredded papers make great garden mulch, but don't remove any paper, shredded or not, from company premises without permission.

Document file: If there is no further action to be taken and item can't be thrown out, then item should be placed in a document file. Documents that need to be kept include, but are not limited to; proof of ownership, signed contracts/agreements, financial and tax records, employee files, legal documents, and insurance policies. Some documents may be thrown out after five or seven years, while others may need to be kept indefinitely. It is best to get specific time requirements from a qualified attorney or tax advisor. Documents to be saved can be placed in a "to be filed" file or basket, which is emptied once per week when each document is filed in its proper location.

A startling statistic is that 80 percent of papers we file are never referenced again!

So, once you pick up an item, you should select best D and take necessary action before you pick up another item. This system can help you be better organized and help reduce clutter. You will no longer have to look at same thing over and over when you take care of it right first time.

Of course Court system takes no account of value of your time as a litigant. If you are a senior manager involved for say 1,000 hours over a period of three years, your lost time may have been worth £50,000 - £100,000.

Stress free - Litigation is undoubtedly very stressful. Everyone finds a Court appearance stressful. It is not only day in Court itself but weeks of anticipation and worry beforehand. Mediation, by contrast, should be sufficiently formal to enable a constructive and satisfactory conclusion but, at same time, sufficiently informal to promote a friendly environment where parties can discuss their differences openly.

Confidentiality - only parties and mediator ever know what is happening, so mediation carries far less risk of damaging publicity. Your business can protect its reputation, its brand, and its technical secrets. On other hand what is said in court is on public record.

The combination of confidentiality and speed in a mediation enables you to keep secret very fact of a dispute. Once you have issued a writ (or had one issued against you) then your auditors, shareholders, and financial commentators will be on top of you for an explanation. Your accounts could be blighted for years. If you are a public company, your share price will be affected. In contrast, a mediation can be over in weeks. Only you even know you ever had a problem - and even you have half forgotten detail because it never interrupted your main purpose. The uncertainty represented by litigation simply does not exist.

Flexibility - Government lays down fixed court procedures. Because mediation is informal, more imaginative solutions can be considered. You can consider a settlement that might involve all sorts of solutions other than payment or receipt of money. It might be important to you or your dispute party to deal with timing, quality, future trading, certification - aspects where a court has no jurisdiction to help you.

So that is what it is all about!