Mediators are Magicians: A Modern Myth?

Philip Naughton QC

March 2003

A talk given to the Society of Construction Law in London on 28th February 2003.

Philip Naughton looks at the way in which the judges exercise their powers to make orders that the parties attempt AD or impose costs penalties on those who fail to do so and considers what the judges have said about parties who refuse to go to mediation in Dunnett v ailtrack Plc and Hurst v Lemming. He questions the appropriateness of the judicial approach in the light of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human ights. He also considers the proportion of mediations that result in settlement, and the factors that might make settlement more likely.

The author: Philip Naughton QC is a practising Queen's Counsel, arbitrator and mediator.

Text 6 pages.

PDF file size: 158k