The Dispute Brief: A Weekly Guide for When Disputes Stop Being Legal Theory and Become a Process Problem
There’s a point in most disputes where you realise the law is not the problem.
The problem is time. Process. Paper. Proof. Someone triggers the wrong forum. Notices go out late. Service becomes an argument. Document requests turn into fishing, then cost escalation. Everyone agrees to “mediate” but nobody agrees what must be protected, what must be said, and what must never be conceded.
That is how a dispute becomes expensive before it becomes serious.
The Dispute Brief exists for that exact moment.
What The Dispute Brief is
The Dispute Brief is a short weekly podcast and practical resource platform on arbitration, mediation, and dispute strategy, with Nigeria-focused context and clear next steps. It is built for dispute lawyers, in-house counsel, contract and procurement teams, claims professionals, and project teams who want disputes managed properly from the first notice to settlement or award.
This is not commentary for commentary’s sake. It is designed to be used in live matters.
How it is organised
I structured The Dispute Brief as seasons, not random topics, because dispute work is sequential. You do not jump to awards and enforcement if you have not fixed notices, service, clause operability, and document control.
The seasons follow a simple progression:
Season 1: The Foundations
Plain-English basics on how arbitration and mediation really work in Nigeria, plus what to do next.
Season 2: The Playbook
Practical steps, templates, and tactics to run disputes better, from first notice to settlement or award.
Season 3: The Process
A clear guide to what happens inside an arbitration, so you can save time, cost, and avoid process mistakes.
Season 4: The People and Proof
How to handle evidence, experts, and ethics issues without creating side fights that derail the case.
Season 5: The Deal and the Award
How to settle cleanly, draft outcomes that hold, and turn “agreement” into something enforceable.
Then we move into pressure points, bigger disputes, treaty and cross-border issues, and newer risk areas that are already showing up in practice.
The key point is simple: new episode every Thursday, with a roadmap that takes you from fundamentals to the harder problems over time.
Why I built it
Because the same avoidable issues keep showing up in Nigerian dispute practice:
Clause drafting that looks fine until it is tested under pressure
Weak notice discipline and time-limit tracking
Service problems that should never happen
Document production chaos that inflates cost and delays hearings
Mediation used as delay, not resolution
Late-stage fights about disclosure, conflicts, funding, and proof
None of this requires genius. It requires structure and discipline. The Dispute Brief is built to make that easier.
Free resource
Dispute Readiness Scorecard: A Risk Check for Live Contracts
If you manage live contracts, this is the tool to use the moment a dispute is brewing. It helps you assess readiness across notices and time limits, service proof, payment trail, authority, performance records, evidence preservation, third-party exposures, and dispute clause operability. It also includes escalation flags and a 72-hour stabilisation plan, plus editable templates.
Download link: Download: Dispute Readiness Scorecard
About Augusta Shahin, MCIArb (UK)
Augusta Shahin, MCIArb (UK) is a Nigeria-based arbitration and mediation practitioner and a Partner at NexusADR. She works with businesses, in-house counsel, and lawyers on dispute strategy, clause drafting, and the practical steps that keep ADR workable under the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023, especially where time pressure and procedural risk determine outcomes. She hosts The Dispute Brief, a short weekly podcast focused on arbitration and mediation in plain English, with Nigeria-first context and practical next steps. For questions or to suggest an anonymised scenario for a future episode, email hello@thedisputebrief.com (remove names and figures).
Listen and follow
Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/11aw36nT5IIqDAG4X8eotC?si=mNKiO0UST_SSAGCo9LbyCQ&t=4
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dispute-brief/id1872136053
Tools and templates
Paystack store: https://paystack.shop/the-dispute-brief
Selar: https://selar.com/o1nt66061z
Follow for updates
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedisputebrief?igsh=bW9oaGo5ZzgyZWxh
X: https://x.com/thedisputebrief?s=21&t=zuWYbND5zKqG6LKubLaiPw
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/augusta-shahin-40346a103?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Closing
If you work in disputes, you already know procedure can move a matter forward or quietly trap it. The Dispute Brief is for practitioners who prefer forward.
