ADR & Mediation

Temple Garden Chambers barristers have been at the forefront of developments in Alternative Dispute Resolution (‘ADR’), shaping the development of ADR models tailor made to their clients’ needs in the fields of personal injury, clinical negligence, insurance, commercial agreements and costs.

Temple Garden barristers have established a strong reputation for excellence in ADR tactics and advocacy, both written and oral, and a track record of success of the full range of ADR modalities:

• Arbitration
• Mediation
• Ombudsman Schemes
• Early Neutral or Independent Evaluation

The requirement to consider ADR has existed since Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004], but historically ADR tended to be mediation alone and uptake had been very slow.

There was significant growth in the use of conciliatory and evaluative dispute resolution prior to 2020. However, the pandemic and ensuing Court backlog has driven an explosion of interest in and the use of ADR and this trend is being accelerated by a number of factors, including Sir Geoffrey Vos MR’s endorsement of the Civil Justice Council’s report (12 July 2021) on ‘Compulsory ADR’:

“As I have said before, ADR should no longer be viewed as ‘alternative’, but as an integral part of the dispute resolution process; that process should focus on ‘resolution’ rather an ‘dispute’ and open the door to a significant shift towards earlier resolution.”

The Courts now have powers to order Early Neutral Evaluation, even where one party does not consent: Lomax v Lomax [2019]. The NHSR are backing ‘Mandatory’ Neutral Evaluation for Clinical Negligence claims, and the take up of evaluative solutions that mirror a Court trial is continually increasing:

“The advantage of an Evaluation process over mediation is that a person with subject matter expertise evaluates the parties’ cases in a direct way and provides an authoritative view of the legal issues of the case and an experienced evaluation of the strength of the evidence.” Norris J in Seals & Anor v Williams [2015]

Temple Garden Chambers barristers are expert in assisting clients in the selection of the correct ADR modality for their particular dispute and guiding then through to successful resolution of their claims.

Members of chambers also offer services as specialised costs mediators, whether through CADR or by way of direct instructions.