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M Amy Winehouse Case: Another Costly Reminder That Mediation Is Often the Better Option Another High Court costs judgment has delivered a stark warning about the risks of pursuing litigation at all costs. Amy Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, has been ordered to pay almost £1…
The Prince Harry Litigation: A Stark Reminder of the Risks and Costs of Modern Civil Litigation The recent dismissal of Prince Harry’s privacy claim, together with those of Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Elizabeth Hurley and others against Associated Newspapers Ltd…
Court Rules on Costs in Defamation Case; Defendant’s Refusal to Mediate Proves Costly In a recent ruling from the High Court (King’s Bench Division), Mr Justice Griffiths delivered a significant judgment concerning legal costs in the case of Rodoy v Optical Express Limited EWHC…
Mediation as a Litmus Test for Litigation Capacity What the High Court’s decision in TLA v Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust reveals about the centrality of ADR in modern litigation Introduction When a High Court judge recently had to decide whether a…
When Inheritance Disputes Escalate: Why Mediation Should Always Be Considered First A recent report by The Independent highlights just how destructive inheritance disputes can become if they are allowed to escalate. According to The Independent , a man who disputes his late…
When Winning Means Losing: The Hidden Cost of Refusing Mediation Rodoy v Optical Express Ltd EWHC 1486 (KB) A recent High Court costs decision demonstrates an increasingly important reality of modern litigation: even a successful party can suffer adverse costs consequences if it…
The High Cost of Litigation Risk: Lessons from a Family Inheritance Dispute – Case of RobertChung By Peter Causton A recent report in the Daily Mail highlights the significant risks that can arise when family disputes proceed all the way to trial. The case concerned a…
Long Live the Single Life? For generations, the legal position was relatively straightforward. If you wished to acquire the legal rights and obligations of marriage, you married. If you chose not to marry, you generally retained financial independence, subject to property law…
Become a Civil & Commercial Mediator – CMC Accredited Training Course in Liverpool Train as a Mediator with ProMediate Mediation is now firmly established as a central part of dispute resolution in England and Wales. Courts increasingly expect parties to engage with Alternative…
Mediation in the United Kingdom: From Alternative to Mainstream For many years mediation was described as an “alternative” form of dispute resolution. That description is becoming increasingly inaccurate. In 2026, mediation is no longer sitting at the margins of the civil…
The decision of Lodhia v Twelve Trees Management Company (Bromley-by-Bow) Ltd & Ors is, on one level, a sprawling and highly unusual costs judgment arising out of discontinued defamation proceedings in the Media and Communications List. Yet beneath the procedural complexity lies…
Halsey in practice — the courts encourage mediation, but it is still often possible to avoid sanctions for refusing it The decision in MJS Projects (March) Ltd v RPS Consulting Services Ltd Neutral Citation Number: EWHC 884 (TCC) Case No: HT-2022-LDS-000011 is an important…
When a Will Dispute Consumes the Inheritance: The Importance of Mediation in Probate Litigation A recent report by The Independent highlights yet another example of how family disputes over wills and inheritances can escalate into financially and emotionally devastating…
ProMediate to Cease Operating as a CTSI Accredited ADR Provider from 5 July 2026 It is with considerable disappointment that ProMediate (UK) Limited announces that it will cease operating as a CTSI-accredited Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider with effect from 5 July…
When “Reasonable Refusal” to Mediate Doesn’t Mean Mediation Lost: Unpacking MJS Projects v RPS Consulting Services Ltd EWHC 884 (TCC) Subtitle: A defendant successfully resisted a costs sanction for refusing to mediate, but the judgment paradoxically reinforces the power of ADR…
Considering a Career as a Mediator: Skills, Mindset, and What to Expect Mediation is a structured conflict-resolution process in which a neutral third party helps people communicate, understand each other’s perspectives, and work toward mutually acceptable solutions. For…
Can Mediation Deliver Justice? Reflections on Bill Marsh’s UCL Lecture on Grenfell Tower, Bosnia and the Limits of Dispute Resolution I recently attended a powerful and thought-provoking lecture hosted by the UCL Centre for Dispute Resolution, at which Bill Marsh addressed a…
By Peter Causton With thanks to reporting by the Daily Mail The Daily Mail this week reported a bleak and deeply troubling story: a 77-year-old pensioner, Jenny Field, evicted from her £420,000 home after losing a five-year legal battle with her neighbour over a strip of land…
Mediation, Interim Relief, and Costs Discipline in Heavy Commercial Chancery Litigation: Lessons from Gable Insurance AG v Dewsall & Ors EWHC 3399 (Ch) The decision in EWHC 3399 (Ch) (Vos DJ, 23 December 2025) is formally a costs judgment, but it reads as a practical handbook on…
Mediation, Delay, and the Cost of Missed Opportunities: Lessons from Reid (Deceased) EWHC 53 (Ch) Probate disputes are uniquely combustible. They combine money, memory, grief, and family history—often long-buried resentments—into a single legal confrontation. The decision of HHJ…
A recent case casts light on the Courts’ approach to penalising parties who do not respond to invitations to mediate. Proposing mediation (and replying properly): the costs lesson from Gable Insurance AG (in liquidation) v Dewsall & Ors EWHC 3399 (Ch) Why this judgment matters…
The Grenfell Tower litigation: early mediation, disclosure, and a pragmatic approach to costs A short procedural ruling in the Grenfell Tower litigation provides a careful illustration of how the courts continue to encourage sensible engagement with mediation, even in complex…
When the curtain lifts on a mediation: Boghossian v IOP and the limits of “mediation privilege” Most of the time, what happens in a mediation stays in the mediation. That promise of confidentiality is the oxygen of candid negotiation: parties can float ideas, make admissions…
Grenfell, Mediation, and the Myth of “The Earlier the Better” What the High Court’s latest Grenfell ruling tells us about timing, information, and realistic mediation The High Court’s ruling in the Grenfell Tower Litigation ( EWHC 3276 (KB)) offers one of the most nuanced and…
