The term "Dispute Resolution" includes litigation, but is much broader than that.
Litigation is the involvement of the court system in a dispute of the parties. Generally it is used when other methods to resolve that dispute have failed. Our current litigation system is structured to satisfy the very large cases. Its ability to efficiently and economically handle the smaller cases has eroded over the last decade or so.
A part of litigation is discovery. This allows opposing parties to determine the type of case the other side has before having to go to court. Discovery is designed to take the surprise out of the trial. However, discovery can also be very time consuming and expensive. Before a party engages in litigation that party has to be prepared to spend the time and expense inherent to discovery practice of not only that party's side, but also the opposition.
Other means of resolving disputes are negotiation - often with the assistance of an attorney - mediation and arbitration.
Mediation allows an independent, trained third person to assist the parties to come to an agreement. The mediator does not have the power to resolve the dispute alone, but will use his or her training to guide the parties through alternatives available. Sometimes the mediator can get a party to see the other side's perspective which is not possible with advocates only. Other times the mediator can craft innovative methods to resolve the dispute.
Many experts feel that the earlier mediation is attempted the better. Others feel that in many cases the parties have to suffer through some agony of the litigation system (or at least time) before they have enough willingness to listen to another perspective. Complicating this is a requirement of sufficient discovery to know the elements of a case.
You should be satisfied that the firm you choose is receptive to all forms of dispute resolution. Bleuel & Muirhead is such a firm.