The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) has released the results of its latest Mediation Audit, the first since the start of the pandemic. For the past 20 years, CEDR’s biennial surveys of mediators have provided a snapshot of civil and commercial mediation in the UK, identifying key trends and developments.  The latest survey received … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills recently partnered with the London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation (LCAM) to  survey a cross-section of the dispute resolution community on attitudes to compulsory mediation in arbitration and mediation. The results indicate that there seems to be support for some degree of mandatory mediation in both litigation and arbitration, but that effective … Read more

A second edition of our text on class actions in England and Wales, co-authored by Herbert Smith Freehills lawyers, has been published in the UK by Sweet & Maxwell. The work takes the reader through the life cycle of a class action claim and includes a chapter devoted to the settlement of class actions. Focusing … Read more

On Wednesday 19 October 2022 at 12:30 pm (GMT) speakers from Herbert Smith Freehills will join the panel for a live London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation (LCAM) webinar on compulsory mediation in arbitration and litigation. 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

Over the past year, both the civil judiciary and the Ministry of Justice have made clear their shared policy aim of bringing about a paradigm shift in the civil justice system, to one in which ADR is embedded into court procedure and culture at all stages of the process (see, for example, here and here).  … Read more

A recent English High Court decision serves as a reminder that the court has power to hand down a reserved judgment despite the proceedings having settled, even where the settlement was reached before the court circulated a draft judgment to the parties. There is no need for the court to be satisfied that there were … Read more