Lord Neuberger
Telephone mediation should be developed so that it might properly complement the civil justice system. This is the view of the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, which he expressed in the Gordon Slynn Memorial Lecture on 10th November 2010. When considering “paths for the future” Lord Neuberger suggested increasing the use of telephone mediation and greater education of the public and the legal profession.
Telephone Mediation
Lord Neuberger said:
The obvious benefit of this process is its apparent cost-effectiveness. It has both cost and time savings for the parties and the court service.
I agree. Indeed I have been developing telephone mediation services for the last 12 months. It is cost effective. I charge just £179 plus VAT per party for a two hour mediation. In addition of course the parties save on travel and venue hire costs. This is what a recent client had to say about the service …
I had a liquidator client who was pursuing a claim against a former director. The dispute had dragged on for many years and seemed intractable. A barrister contact recommended Hesketh Mediation to my firm. The sum in dispute was not large, but my previous mediation experience had always taken at least a day with significant costs being incurred both in preparation for it and on the day itself. I was told that a telephone mediation was generally much quicker, meant that the parties’ minds were concentrated and was therefore more cost effective.
That proved to be the case – an agreement satisfactory to all sides was reached in a little over two hours. Phil’s assistance in achieving this was invaluable and the fact it was dealt with via telephone really did seem to speed up the process. I’d be very happy to recommend it for future cases.
Nicholas Pike, Partner, Lawrence Graham LLP
If you want to know if a case would be suitable just give me a call on 0845 056 3625 for a free assessment.
