Commercial Lawyers' Attitudes and Experience with Mediation

Abstract

This paper considers the application of mediation for commercial disputes following the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), which encouraged the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). A report is given on a survey of lawyers practising in the UK commercial litigation field and the respondents' experience of using ADR. An analysis is made of the settlement outcomes reported for mediation and respondents' attitudes to the appropriate use of ADR for commercial-related disputes. Mediation, practically to the exclusion of any other method of ADR, is being employed in some sectors of commercial work and survey respondents are repeat-users of the process. The majority of mediations reported concerned breach of contract and professional negligence cases. Data suggests that the specific categorisation of a commercial disputes as (say) professional negligence, personal injury or breach of contact is unlikely to affect mediation achieving full settlement. Commercial respondents were of the opinion that mediation is suitable for a wide variety of commercial case-types but breach of contract, professional negligence, general negligence and debt cases were specifically perceived to be appropriate. Commercial respondents reported that the major determinants for mediation reaching a successful outcome are the attitude and expectation of the parties in taking part in good faith and their willingness to compromise.