Increasingly, the Courts expect litigants to make genuine efforts to use mediation before commencing legal proceedings and at various stages after legal proceedings have begun. The Courts are now making expensive costs orders against parties who refuse to go to mediation, or do not cooperate with the mediation process. Mediation and Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) mean the same thing.

The process itself involves the parties meeting with a qualified Mediator. More often than not the parties will meet each other in the company of the Mediator, but even that is not always necessary. Sometimes the situation that has developed between the parties will have become so acrimonious that they cannot bear to see or speak to the other side. In a Court process meeting each other is inevitable. Not so in mediation.
The mediation process allows a totally neutral Mediator to facilitate agreement between parties on as many matters as possible. A mediation will be successful even if only a part of a dispute is resolved, misunderstandings removed, issues narrowed down and the commercial risks and good sense of going forward into Court proceedings made clear to the parties.
Mediation is often used when two or more parties are in dispute.

Pengillys have been particularly forward thinking in this area of work and have extensive experience in Dispute Resolution through Mediation. Their expertise covers both Commercial and Family and Childcare work