Opinions about Mediation Advocacy
Lord Justice Jackson
With the support of the Ministry of Justice, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, asked Lord Justice Jackson to conduct a review of civil costs.
One of Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations, in his January 2010 report on civil litigation costs (click here for a summary of the key recommendations affecting commercial clients), was that all litigation lawyers and judges should be properly informed about the benefits of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and alert the public and small businesses to those benefits. To this end he recommended that an authoritative mediation handbook be prepared.
The review commenced in January 2009 and the findings were presented in January 2010.
Message from Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls
Insurers must espouse mediation.This was the message from Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, at a recent FOIL debate entitled what is stopping Personal Injury Mediation?
Sir Anthony was of the view that mediation has a valuable roll to play in most types of case and the Court can and should play a part in promoting mediation without the need for changes to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).
Sir Anthony was also firmly of the view that there needs to be a culture change and that mediation needs to be an intrinsic part of the thought process in dispute resolution. He echoed the view expressed earlier in the debate that only a mad man would not want to settle and said that it was for liability Insurers to lead the way in pressing for early settlements, possibly by instructing solicitors who were not resistant to independent mediation. Sir Anthony was clearly of the view that liability Insurers hold more of the cards when it comes to influencing the necessary culture change and that if liability Insurers were to say this is the way it will be then that is how it will be!
26 January 2009
