Mediations

Kate has extensive experience in dispute resolution, including High Court litigation, international arbitration and regulatory investigations in addition to mediation. From this she has seen the benefits of mediation in sparing parties the waste of management time, cost, disruption, publicity and uncertainty that comes with litigation.

Kate believes that the right mediator and the right process can assist disputing counterparties to achieve a workable solution to their dispute and often also enable them to maintain and rebuild relationships.

Kate is comfortable mediating any commercial, banking or employment dispute. She is familiar with both general commercial disputes and also disputes brought by investors and counterpart banks in relation to complex financial products. Examples of cases Kate has recently mediated include:

Banking/Financial Services

Contract/Sales of Goods/Suppliers

Intellectual property

Partnership/Employment

Insurance

Property/Real estate


Kate’s Approach to Mediation

1. Preparation

Thorough preparation by both the mediator and the parties gives the best chance of settlement. Kate will ensure that she has read the documents required to understand the dispute and has sufficient background knowledge as to the relevant sector. Kate will also speak to each party and/or their advisors prior to the mediation to guide them in their preparation for the mediation to ensure that the mediation day can be most effectively used.

2. Process

Mediation is usually a comparatively short period of designated time in which to try and achieve a successful resolution to a complicated and often long standing dispute. Kate is experienced in managing processes and working to tight time frames. At the mediation itself, Kate will develop (and constantly review) a process that she considers best enables the parties to move forward. The mediator needs to be flexible as new information or dynamics will invariably emerge as the mediation negotiations progress.

Kate generally starts with a joint meeting and then moves to a series of private meetings where she can explore the issues, driving interests and possible solutions in more depth within the protection of a confidential setting.

Her role is to enable and support the parties’ negotiations, a key element of which is appropriately managing the flow of information between the parties. Where appropriate, she will challenge parties’ positions or views and will also try to encourage the parties to think innovatively about possible solutions.

To be effective a mediator needs to establish an early and strong rapport with the parties. Kate is used to working with parties with differing views, often in emotional and high pressure situations. Kate has also worked with numerous witnesses, often who are aggrieved or who may have difficult or aggressive personalities, which requires that rapport is established quickly in order to gain their trust and co-operation. She is comfortable working with people from all social and professional backgrounds.

A settlement will generally take significant energy from all involved. Kate brings such energy and will work to develop a process that generates sufficient momentum.

3. Style

Kate’s background in litigation in London and New York means that she is able to understand a case quickly and she finds that this enables her, within private session, to work with the parties to look clearly at their cases and identify their own business needs and those of the other party.

She can also be realistic when exploring with the parties what the alternative to a settlement would entail in terms of cost, management time and disruption.

The mediator’s role is to facilitate a settlement between the parties and it is through her calm and measured approach to a negotiation that she hopes to help the parties work to such settlement.