PGF II SA v OMFS Company 1 Ltd – The Court of Appeal decides

Most litigants now know that silence is not golden. Could the defendant in PGF II SA v OMFS Company 1 Limited [2013] EWCA Civ 1288 have foreseen that the price of silence would have been over £500,000?  Time will tell how many litigants appreciate the potential cost of silence has just turned platinum.

Helen Curtis applies to the Mediation Commission

Rail travel is more eco-friendly. And slower. Which is great when you’ve got time to look at the scenery and not so great when your train is so slow and delayed that you risk not getting to Rome in time to connect with the overnight sleeper to Paris. When our very late train limped into […]

Helen Curtis greets the NMPA’s phoneline with relief

Apologies for blogblock recently. Not so much an exended summer, more holding our breath to see whether the rise in LIP (litigants in person) or SRL (self represented litigants) at courts around the country or the increase in the small claims limit to £10,000 is prompting an uptake of mediation. For civil disputes it’s difficult […]

Liz Davies welcomes Andrew Arden QC’s conversion to mediation for housing cases

In the latest issue of the Journal of Housing Law ([2013] JHL Issue 4), Andrew Arden QC, the Journal’s Editor and well-known “godfather of housing law” (Chambers and Partners), tells us how his views on mediation have developed. In 2005 he was “a fairly cautious convert”, concerned that mediation might not be appropriate for housing […]

David Watkinson suggests how to be an effective Advocate at a Mediation

Being an advocate at a mediation requires a different approach and different skills to being an advocate at a trial or other hearing. The advocate is not there: to convince a judge or jury of his/her client’s case to present evidence, examine his/her client and witnesses and cross-examine the other party and his/her witnesses to […]

July tax bill? HMRC has mediators

It may not be the most widely known fact: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have officials who are specially trained as mediators. Maybe you already knew this? If you didn’t and you advise businesses it could be information worth passing on.

Is the Mediation Agreement enforceable?

In the recent case of Frost v Wake Smith & Tofields Solicitors [2013] EWCA Civ 772, the mediator was said to have “performed a small miracle in producing an agreement in principle which ultimately matured into a perfected agreement pursuant to which the brothers were able to disentangle their interests”. The Judge went on to […]

Mediation – can you afford not to?

Mediation for civil disputes isn’t free unless one of the party’s has no means to pay and can access the free mediation service at LawWorks. Additionally there’s a court service which is accessible once a small claim is issued and both parties are willing to mediate. For other disputes, is it worth paying for mediation? Usually […]

Mediation – an opportunity not to be missed?

Much has been written recently about the Government’s proposals to change the availability of legal aid. Some judges have identified the problems of the absence of legal aid for those who pursue litigation in person. After describing as ‘depressing’ the difficulties the judiciary find in dealing with litigants in person, Sir Alan Ward in the […]