Paulino Fajardo, Herbert Smith Freehills’ Head of Disputes for the EMEA region, has been awarded the prestigious Barakah Award (Europe category) 2023 for outstanding contribution to the field of mediation. A partner in our Madrid office, Paulino is dual qualified in England and Spain and is a leading practitioner in international litigation and arbitration, particularly … Read more

The Court of Appeal recently delivered an important decision regarding the enforceability and effect of contractual dispute resolution provisions that oblige parties to engage in an ADR process before commencing proceedings. Of particular interest is the court’s discussion of what remedy is appropriate where such a clause is enforceable and has been breached by a … Read more

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched a public consultation on Increasing the use of mediation in the civil justice system. It has also given an indication that the government intends for the UK to sign and ratify the Singapore Convention on Mediated Settlements. The consultation issues The consultation document seeks views on two distinct … Read more

The UK government recently published a report announcing a wide range of far-reaching changes to the UK competition and consumer protection regulatory regimes, following a consultation last year. The key reforms are examined on our Competition Notes blog, here.  Below, we highlight a less prominent aspect of the report, regarding the role of ADR services … Read more

A trend toward combining alternative dispute resolution processes (typically mediation and arbitration) is gaining traction internationally and is being particularly driven in Asia by the Belt and Road Initiative. With China at the heart of the Belt and Road, a more consensus-driven approach to dispute resolution, reflecting Asian values and promoting mediation, looks set to … Read more

Peter Frost, Partner in our London office, has published a post on our Employment Notes blog reviewing the current and potential use of ADR in employment disputes.  The post, which was first published in the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) Briefing March 2019, can be accessed here. As we have previously reported, Peter has co-chaired various reports on … Read more

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

The Herbert Smith Freehills employment team has published a briefing examining the role of ADR within employment disputes, including considering the findings outlined in the recently released Global Pound Conference Report in the context of employment disputes in the key jurisdictions of Australia, France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The briefing discusses the availability – … Read more