Free Webinar – Mediation: The Personal Touch

The format of mediation can be confusing to infrequent users of mediation as well as to first-timers. This webinar will discuss:

• A deeper understanding of how confidential the discussions at mediation are
• The significance of whether to meet in-person or mediate remotely
• Pursuing the opportunity to mediate, with or without a court direction

Speakers:

David Watkinson, Door Tenant and Mediator, Garden Court Chambers 
David practiced as a barrister for 40 years (1973–2012), focusing on housing and planning law, and represented clients in courts at all levels, including the UK Supreme Court. Since qualifying as a mediator (2008), David has utilised his advocacy and negotiation skills to assist parties in resolving disputes. He has mediated in cases such as contractual disputes between providers of services and proprietors of care homes/hotels, inter-tenant disputes concerning allegations of anti-social behaviour, disputes between the house-owners and an occupier about the legal nature of her occupation, unpaid rent and return of deposit, dispositions in a will where the main asset was a house, disputes between separating couples as to their respective  shares in the  proceeds of sale of their former home, a possession claim brought by a local authority against the occupier of a pitch on the Council’s Gypsy Caravan Site, injunction proceedings brought against vehicle dwellers in its area by a local authority and disputes between landlords (including housing associations and local authorities) and their tenants arising from breach of repairing covenants.

Margaret Doyle, Mediator, Garden Court Chambers
Margaret is a researcher, author and an experienced mediator, specialising in equalities issues and disputes between individuals and public bodies. She is accredited in special educational needs and disabilities mediation and in elder mediation. As a Visiting Research Fellow with the University of Essex School of Law, she combines her rights-based mediation practice with research that explores the role of mediation and ombuds in administrative justice. In 2022, Margaret became the first mediator in England to be certified as a specialist mediator in disputes involving older people.

Abigail Holt, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Abigail has been a fully trained mediator since 2011 and has also acted as a mediation advocate. Most recent mediation work has been in relation to complex PI cases which were not amenable to settlement by joint settlement meetings or commercial lease disputes. All such mediations resulted in the successful resolution of all issues, including linked Employment Tribunal cases and costs. On numerous occasions, with the permission of the High Court, Abigail has performed the role of Court Examiner taking evidence on commission for the Court, in cases where Claimants have been too ill to attend for cross-examination at trial. Abigail has over 25 years of experience focusing mainly on accident, disease, health and medical-related issues. Her caseload concentrates on difficult tort/negligence cases: catastrophic injury and death; personal injury claims for head injuries and clinical negligence; complex industrial diseases, particularly lung disease/asbestos; injury abroad; to human rights claims including for child abuse/neglect.

Helen Curtis, Barrister and Mediator, Garden Court Chambers
Helen is a trained, experienced mediator with ‘excellent interpersonal skills’ and an ability to ‘keep the focus on coming to an agreement’.  She is calm and relaxed from the first point of contact with the parties and her constructive approach acknowledges the parties’ needs at the outset. Helen helps parties reach a resolution in cases that are commercially sensitive, complex and where disputes involve a high degree of strong emotion or hostility. She brings skills required in litigation namely energy, insight and stamina to effective use in the mediation process.  Her legal practice concentrates on areas where the liberty of the subject is at stake, particularly in areas of mental health, prisoners and the Court of Protection. She appears before Tribunals, Parole Boards and courts through to the Court of Appeal. Helen was an approved mediator on the Court of Protection Mediation Panel.

Reserve your online ticket
If you have booked an online ticket, we will send joining details to all those who have signed up on the day of the event. If you have not received the link by 10am on 5th March, and it is not in your junk inbox, please email webinars@gclaw.co.uk.