After 20 years as a chartered surveyor, I qualified as a mediator and in 1995 founded In Place of Strife. It’s a mediation chambers where my colleagues and I help people to avoid litigation or, once it’s started, stop it in its tracks.

I’m an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Distinguished Fellow (their words, not mine) of the International Academy of Mediators, a founding board member of the Civil Mediation Council and a member of the Court of Appeal mediation scheme.

I’ve personally mediated over around 1500 disputes, employing – according to the kind words of others – ‘a blend of hard work and charisma’ as well as well-refined ‘commercial nous’.

Case Studies

Since the anatomy of a commercial dispute is broadly similar regardless of the details, I’m able to mediate across a variety or sectors, with particular experience in –

Commercial contracts
  • Claim for breach of contract by global gaming business for sponsorship of an annual sports festival.
  • Claim by restaurant against seafood supplier for losses arising from a norovirus outbreak amongst its customers.
  • Claim by machinery rental company against manufacturer for unpaid commission.
  • Commission claim for introduction of a purchaser of high value City property investment.
  • Sale of property management company. Claim for breach of fiduciary duty and non payment of profit share. Counter-claim for damages for breaches of warranty and alleged defrauding of utilities providers.
Construction
  • Claim against contractor for faulty heating and soundproofing systems in newly built mansion.
  • Claim against stone quarry operator for cost of replacement of failed stonework to new building.
  • Highly complex claim under a building contract with defects counterclaim and subgrogated claim for damage by flooding from a sprinkler system.
Property
  • Claim by house owner and his insurer against the manufacturer, supplier and installer of solar panels for recovery of losses following serious fire damage.
  • Riverside property owner suing Local Authority over ownership of mooring rights.
  • Claim by landlord of mansion block for unpaid service charges and counter-claim for failure to repair.
  • Dilapidations claim relating to large warehouse building.
  • House purchaser claiming damages for vendor’s alleged failure accurately to complete the Seller’s Property Information Form.
  • Compensation for compulsory acquisition in area of urban renewal.
Employment
  • Employment claim based on unfair dismissal following protected disclosures.
  • Directors of mining company bringing a claim for unfair dismissal.
Financial services
  • Claim against financial adviser in relation to advice to invest in a tax break film investment which failed.
Franchising
  • Claim by franchisor against franchisee for breach of termination agreement. In spite of former franchisee having no funds, franchisor keen to demonstrate robust action as an example to other franchisees.
  • Negligence claim against solicitor for failures in drafting of a franchise agreement.
Insurance
  • Claim against insurer and broker by insured who suffered fire damage to residential property.
  • Dispute relating to theft of electronic equipment from lorry. Whether loss calculated under CMR regulations or at full value on basis of wilful misconduct.
Mortgage lending
  • Many claims by mortgage companies against borrowers and professional advisers where losses have been sustained.
Partnership disputes
  • Claim by GP against her partners for enforced retirement from medical partnership.
  • Assisted two partners in an auctioneering business to agree terms for termination of the partnership.
  • Highly emotional dissolution of farming partnership between brothers and their aunt.
Pensions and life assurance
  • Claim against Pension Trustee for failure to advise on suitability of property held in a fund.
  • Claim against pension administrators for failure to provide pensions data. Trustees claiming c£1m employing others to provide the information.
  • Claim against insurer and broker for misrepresentation and negligence in allowing claimant to switch from pension scheme with possible guaranteed annuity rights to one without.
Pensions and insurance mis-selling
  • Multi-million pound claim by major bank against investment managers in respect of endowment policy mis-selling.
Personal injury
  • Highly qualified woman in her mid-20s knocked off her bicycle by a turning lorry suffered life-changing multiple injuries. Resolved once the insurer had seen and spoken to the claimant.
  • Police officer claiming against Police Authority for injury incurred in the course of training.
Probate and inheritance
  • Estate of £2 million left to charity. Partner of deceased claiming under Inheritance Act.
  • Dispute between siblings in relation to a substantial landed estate upon the death of their father.
Professional negligence
  • Claim by property developer against solicitor for diminution in value of property where the assignment clause was faulty. Liability admitted but causation and quantum contested.
  • Claim by mortgage lender against valuer to recover losses where property allegedly over-valued.
  • Claim by freeholder of block of flats against accountants certifying service charge accounts where managing agents had been taking funds for his own use.
  • Claim against psychotherapist for undue influence where there had been misconduct leading to expulsion from professional bodies.
Rights of way, boundaries and adverse possession
  • Boundary dispute between neighbours who were unable even to meet. Mediator acting as go-between.
  • Boundary dispute based on a claim of adverse possession.
Shareholder disputes
  • Bitter dispute between shareholders in respect of an electrical contracting business.
  • Family in dispute over shares in restaurant business.
  • Highly emotional claim by widow of shareholder in small insurance brokerage for unfair prejudice.
Taxation
  • Accountant’s failure to advise on Business Assets Taper Relief.
Miscellaneous
  • Local Authority sued by adoptive parents for improperly revealing their address to the birth mother.
  • Local Education Authority sued by parents of boy who hung himself allegedly in consequence of bullying at school.
  • Claim by parents of a deceased infant against undertakers who sent the child’s coffin for burial empty and, having realised their mistake, fraudulently sent the corpse for cremation.