The Australian Herald Sun published an article on July 16, 2012 on the costs of legal disputes and makes suggestions how to prepare for and avoid (in that order) business conflicts.

DISPUTES are inevitable, costly and can ruin a business.
At their worst, they lock parties in a court battle with costs easily expected to pass $20,000 not to mention lost time and higher stress.

A Federal Government survey shows small businesses are likely to turn to lawyers before cheaper alternatives, and are then dropping serious disputes because of the higher cost.

But businesses can't avoid the impact of disputes nor the potential risk

...

20% of small businesses have experienced a dispute in the past five years.
33% of those have dropped a serious dispute because of potential costs  more likely for sole traders and those businesses with one employee.

THE smaller a business's turnover, the more likely it is to face a dispute requiring third-party intervention.
54% of those disputes are with clients or customers.
65% of disputes relate to payments and 30 per cent to contracts.
50% said they had spent $2000 or less on the dispute  but most thought other costs were much greater than out-of-pocket expenses.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/your-business/curbing-legal-co...