In a report published earlier this week, Compulsory ADR, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has recommended a greater use of compulsory ADR within the civil courts of England and Wales. In particular, it has concluded that court-mandated ADR is not incompatible with Article 6 of the European Human Rights Convention (right to a fair trial) … Read more

Tomorrow marks an important day for international dispute resolution as the Singapore Mediation Convention comes into force, just over a year after its signing ceremony on 7 August 2019.  More formally known as the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, the new Convention aims to establish a global enforcement regime for settlement … Read more

The High Court has disallowed a substantial part of a successful defendant’s costs as a result of its failure to engage in mediation: Wales (t/a Selective Investment Services) v CBRE Managed Services Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1050 (Comm). This decision highlights that a refusal to participate in ADR may have serious consequences for parties … Read more

The High Court has imposed indemnity costs in two recent cases as a result of a party’s unreasonable failure to engage in ADR: DSN v Blackpool Football Club Ltd [2020] EWHC 670 (QB) and BXB v Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Pennsylvannia [2020] EWHC 656 (Admin). In both cases, the party’s belief in the strength of its … Read more

As has been well publicised, the new Singapore Convention seeks to establish a global enforcement regime for settlement agreements resulting from mediation in cross-border commercial disputes. Signed on 7 August 2019 by 46 countries, the Convention could feasibly be in operation as early as the first half of next year (it will enter into force six months … Read more

The Court of Appeal has held that the court has power to order an early neutral evaluation (ENE) by a judge even where one or more parties do not consent to that course. There was no reason to imply into the relevant rule giving the court power to order ENE any limitation based on the … Read more

The Singapore Convention, more formally known as the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, was signed today in Singapore by 46 countries – a record number of first-day signatories for a UN trade convention. While not including the UK or any EU countries, the signatories do include the world’s two largest … Read more

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 promote debate over possible reforms. The report … Read more