Chris Woodruff runs CLW Dispute Resolution, a UK-based consultancy providing mediation services for businesses & individuals.

Chris Woodruff is based in London and has over 36 years of expertise in litigation and mediation. CLW Dispute Resolution provides Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services to businesses and individuals looking for a low-risk, cost-effective alternative to litigation. 

Why mediation makes sense

Litigation can be very expensive not only because of the costs of your own legal team but because of the potential risks of being ordered to pay the costs of all other parties involved in the case.  Any experienced litigation lawyer will tell you that there is no such thing as a cast iron case as there is always litigation risk. This is because a judge may not see things your way and, if so, you could end up paying the other side’s costs, as well as your own, if you lose. 

There may be many parties in the dispute and if they have separate legal representation a losing party can end up paying the costs of several parties as well as their own. Normally both sides will employ counsel to represent them in court and in some cases the court may order the parties to appoint experts. 

Because of the number of professionals that can be involved in a case the costs can very quickly become disproportionately high in relation to the amounts involved in the dispute itself, particularly where there are multiple parties with separate legal teams and experts. I have been involved in claims where the costs alone have exceeded £1 million. 

For all of these reasons litigation is a high stakes game.

It therefore makes sense to consider mediation if a dispute has arisen at the earliest possible stage, preferably before lawyers get involved and certainly before proceedings are issued.  The court rules in England and Wales are designed to encourage mediation before proceedings are started and the courts can and do penalise litigants by way  of costs orders if they do not consider mediation. 

A high proportion of disputes are resolved by the mediation process and in those cases many thousands of pounds of legal costs and management hours are saved.  Litigation risk is eliminated.

If you are involved in a dispute I can help you resolve it. 

Areas of Mediation