Mediation & Ombudsman

In business, disagreement and disputes inevitably arise. Resolving those through legal battles can be costly, time consuming and very stressful, particularly in countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. Stein & Partners can act as an impartial mediator, providing support to the parties for reaching mutually acceptable agreement. Our success rate of Mediation & Dispute Resolution stands at 93% for reaching agreement without legal recourse.

We are honoured being mandated by our clients as Ombudsman for their employees, suppliers, customers and business partners in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

In our capacity as Ombudsman we function as a “Place of Trust” receiving indications of unfair behaviour or illegal practices, such as abuse, harassment, irregularities, fraud, misconduct, breach of code of conducts / ethics etc.. We conduct confidential conversations, research, collect evidences, where possible and evaluate those independently ensuring full confidentiality so that the Whistleblowers are protected.

Then we check and cross-check whether the initial suspicion of an unfair behaviour or illegal practices are present and report to the company management only about the facts of the suspicion – without mentioning the source. This enables the company management to remedy the situation.

We typically perform duties to investigate complaints and attempt to resolve those, usually through dialogue, recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. We also aim to identify systematic issues leading to breaches of social, ethical and legal norms.

Finally, in co-ordination with the management of the company, we conduct the dialogue with the parties involved, provide recommendations and mediate. One focus of this phase is to determine whether it is a case or systematic misuse. In so doing, the full extent of the violations of social, ethical and legal norms should be identified and mechanisms developed for avoiding such incidents in the future.

This team is headed by Mrs. Ivonne Stein, a German lawyer and Mr. Kauser Bhuiyan, a former EU diplomat. This services are available for monthly fee or case by case basis. Please feel free to write us to ask [at] steinandpartners.com for any further questions.