By Josef Cannon, barrister and mediator, Cornerstone Barristers
Mediation has a remarkable success rate for resolving disputes: the latest research (from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution’s tenth Report on the mediation industry) suggests it might be as high as 92%: 72% of cases settling on the day of the mediation, with a further 20% shortly afterwards. The same Report estimates that around £5.9 billion is saved each year by businesses using mediation to settle disputes, instead of litigating. There is a flourishing cadre of excellent specialist mediators, and mediations can be arranged and conducted in very short order, including online where necessary. Mediation can preserve and often even improve relationships between parties to a dispute (unlike litigation, which tends to de...