Hong Kong: Third party funding for mediation delayed

Hong Kong has published its long-awaited Code of Practice for third party funders and announced that amendments to the Arbitration Ordinance, which permit funding of Hong Kong arbitrations, will come fully into force on 1 February 2019.   However, proposed amendments to the Mediation Ordinance (Cap. 620) regarding non-Hong Kong mediations, costs and disclosure of mediation communications … Read more

UK: Civil Justice Council report on ADR calls for review of Halsey guidelines but stops short of recommending mandatory mediation

Jan O’Neill Professional Support Lawyer, London   The Civil Justice Council’s ADR working group has released its final report on ADR and Civil Justice, following consultation on its interim report released last year. The broad mandate of the review was “to maintain the search for the right relationship between civil justice and ADR” and to … Read more

UK: New ADR service for costs disputes

The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) has launched an ADR service dedicated to the resolution of costs disputes.  The service, which will initially be limited to mediation, will be provided by a panel of eight mediators, including former Senior Costs Judge Peter Hurst and three costs lawyers.   ACL plans to extend the service to include early neutral evaluation, … Read more

UK: Further guidance on when refusal to mediate may attract costs sanctions

A recent High Court decision has provided a further example of a successful defendant being deprived of a portion of the costs it otherwise would have been awarded because it was found to have unreasonably refused to engage in ADR (applying the guiding principles laid out by the Court of Appeal in Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust … Read more