We have specialist qualified individuals to act as mediators in family, commercial, planning and employment law disputes. In addition, our barristers regularly attend at and advise clients in those areas of practice and in addition, personal injury and profession negligence claims. With cutting-edge facilities in Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and Chester and professional accredited barrister mediators, our Mediation Team offers an alternative dispute resolution service of the highest quality. Our Mediation Team includes trained and accredited barrister mediators for Family Law, Commercial and Employment Law Mediations. We also have more than 236 specialist barristers, who are accustomed to advising and acting for clients ADR and Mediations in the following areas:
- Commercial
- Employment
- Family
- Personal Injury and Professional Negligence
Our Family Law Mediation service complements our dispute resolution focused approach and ability to offer Arbitration and Private FDRs (Early Neutral Evaluation).
NHSR costs disputes
For information on the NHS Resolution Costs Disputes Mediation process please click here
CMC
We are a member of the Civil Mediation Council.
What is mediation?
Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution. The aim of mediation is to bring parties together in a neutral setting to resolve their differences by agreement.
The benefits of mediation are that it is without prejudice and offers confidential discussions with each of the parties. It can be set up at short notice and can be quicker than litigation by virtue of this and the fact there is no pre-action protocol. It allows the parties to retain some control and is informal, making it less stressful and potentially much more cost effective. It is also possible for the parties to come to an agreement that the court would not have the jurisdiction to order.
When is mediation not appropriate?
There are times when mediation should not be used, such as when default judgement or summary judgement are available, injunction or publicity are required or when a party has no interest in settlement.
Without prejudice and confidentiality
The whole of the mediation process is without prejudice. Therefore, if, during mediation, you admit you are to blame but dispute the value and the matter is not resolved and proceeds to court, then the admission within the mediation cannot be used against you in court.
Confidentiality relates to the individual meetings. It is important to distinguish between this and without prejudice. Any of the conversations had between the mediator and the parties are confidential and cannot be disclosed to the other side unless that party has given their express permission to do so.
For the purposes of family mediation, additions to the agreement may be necessary to ensure that from an ethical point of view, the Bar Council Code of Conduct applies and that confidentiality may be waived in the event of a serious child protection issue arising, thereby enabling the mediation to be terminated to report any child protection matters to the appropriate authority.
The mediation:
The aim of mediation is to reach a settlement by agreement, or to narrow the issues. The benefits of mediation are that it is informal, cost effective, confidential and without prejudice. It is the parties’ mediation, they are in control.
For further information please contact Gemma Eachus on 0161 214 1544.
