At Routh Clarke, we believe disputes are best resolved without the stress of going to court and that’s why we provide dispute resolution services. Our in-house civil mediator, Lisa Routh, deals with all types of disputes, ranging from neighbour disputes to building disputes to complex business contract disputes. Lisa has a great deal of experience helping people to settle their differences and come away from their disagreements having negotiated a settlement without the financial and psychological burden of court proceedings. We believe communication is the key to finding solutions for all disputes and provide a fair, unbiased and effective service which helps people to find their own solutions rather than having one forced upon them by a judge.
We are here to help you. To make a free, no obligation enquiry please call us on 01935 823883 or complete a Free Online Enquiry and we will soon be in touch with you.
Mediation is a completely voluntary and confidential form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It is when an impartial person or mediator - trained in dealing with difficult discussions between 2 opposing sides - acts like a referee in a dispute. They will not make any decisions for you or impose an agreement, they will only help you to resolve the issues you have with the other party, by way of discussion. This means it is often a very successful way to come to an agreement as you are the one in control, rather than a judge or an arbitrator. It is also the least stressful and certainly least costly way to resolve disputes.
This can be different depending on the issue you have. Sometimes, particularly for low value disputes, it can be done over the phone. However, for higher value claims it will be necessary to have a face-to-face meeting. Usually there will be an initial session with both parties and the mediator where the mediator describes the process and both parties can give their position statements (i.e. describe the situation from their point of view). Then the mediator will spend time with each party individually, confidentially discussing the way forward with them. The purpose of these conversations is to find areas of compromise leading to an agreement that both parties find acceptable. Once this agreement has been reached, the parties will come back together to write up the terms of the agreement and sign it. It can then be taken to solicitors who can produce a formal and legally binding agreement which can be confirmed by the court if required.
This will vary depending on the circumstances of your dispute, but will either be on an hourly or whole session rate, or it will be based on the financial level of the claim being made. To give a rough guide it could be from £50 + VAT per party for an hour’s session for a claim under £5,000, to £425 + VAT per party for 4 hours for a claim between £15,000 - £50,000.
We have a civil trained mediator at Routh Clarke who is qualified to undertake all levels of Civil mediation. Lisa Routh has been the Practice Manager at Routh Clarke for over 6 years and has an understanding of many areas of law and how the court system works. Previously she headed up a global training company, managing teams in the US, India and Europe, so she has a vast wealth of business knowledge from years of managing people, finances, suppliers and contracts. She has learnt first-hand that communication and listening skills are vital to resolving disputes and she works hard to ensure her clients find acceptable legally binding solutions that are cost effective and do not involve going to court.