Mediation in the Middle Ages

Two years ago David Watkinson wrote about mediation in the Anglo-Saxon period. Now, he considers mediation in a different historical context and highlights some comparisons between mediation then and now.

Commercial and Civil Mediation

Blog by Dr Mary Malecka and Abigail Holt of the Garden Court Mediation Team The value of mediation to commercial and civil disputes is that it enables parties to reframe their dispute in a holistic fashion that takes into account the cost of litigation. This includes the personal emotional investment, and the prospect of successfully moving on from the dispute, […]

The Costs Consequences of Refusing Mediation – Are the Courts Going Soft on Sanctions?

Introduction This month David Watkinson reflects on the case-law he has described previously in his blogs on this topic and notes that a reader could have drawn the conclusion that any proposal to mediate had better be complied with or costs consequences will follow. However, more recently, David finds the approach, particularly at High Court […]

Researching Mediation of Medical Treatment Disputes

Dr Jaime Lindsey, currently Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Essex (soon to be Associate Professor of Law at the University of Reading) is leading this research project to enable in-depth analysis of the use of mediation to resolve medical treatment disputes. Funded by an ESRC New Investigator Grant, the core aim of […]

The ‘BB3 Strategy’ Approach to a Mediated Negotiation

Author: Dr Mary Malecka A few years ago it cost me an arm and a leg to go to Boston and spend a week at Harvard law school for the program on negotiation course. Now, post-pandemic, everything is available online, and I recently had a day with William Ury and a small cohort of other […]

When Mediation Did = Dispute Resolution

In 1972 David Watkinson, while a pupil of Lord Anthony Gifford in Cloisters, met Stephen Sedley with whom Lord Anthony shared a room. Here, David considers the origin of dispute resolution and traces it back further than you may think.

Take it or leave it?

Claims for unpaid leave likely to have more takers after the decision of Smith v Pimlico Plumbers says Abigail Holt