Alternative Dispute Resolution

Tony Guise takes an imaginary peek inside the in-tray of the Master of the Rolls In this month’s article for Solicitors Journal we consider the direction of travel for the Master of the Rolls as he tries to navigate the civil justice system away from providing opportunities for confrontation to a more pluralistic resolution approach. […]

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) of Lawtech UK Public Consultation on the Digital Dispute Resolution Rules Response by DisputesEfiling.com This is our response to the important Consultation from the United Kingdom Joint Task Force of Law Tech.  This is the Digital Dispute Resolution Rules they have drafted.  These rules provide a bespoke set of arbitration […]

The perennial tolerance of delays in civil justice is giving way, as Tony Guise explains. Lawyers’ instinctive resistance to ADR either through their passion for binary solutions and/or economic self-interest is beginning to give way to a more nuanced approach to conflict solving – much to their clients’ benefit and their own!  Read more about […]

Today DEF has completed the Civil Justice Council’s online survey about whether the Pre-Action Protocols should be reformed.  This includes questions about whether ADR should become de facto compulsory (we thought it already was!) and whether they should be online. We agree the PAPs should be online.  In fact we did exactly that when we […]

Please read our evidence to the Justice Committee Inquiry into the Backlog.  This takes account of the latest statistics from MoJ and HMCTS which evidences the rising Backlog in money claims and employment cases.  In our supplemental evidence we call for the roll out of the Review Day approach from possession cases to money claims […]

Coimbra, Portugal (online) Panel discussion: Innovation & ADR/ Inovação e ADR: Friday 9 October 2020 Please read the text of Tony Guise’s speech at the Xth International Arbitration Meeting held in Coimbra recently.  The pressing issue of integrating ADR into Civil courts, the importance of learning the lessons of history as well as DEF’s development of […]

Friday 9 October 2020 – Coimbra, Portugal (online) Honoured to be part of this important conference speaking about Innovation and ADR.  Thank you Lucy Greenwood for the introduction. Do join me if you can.  We will be discussing how the drivers for change are the Usual Suspects but nevertheless they are driving real changes, really […]

Please read our evidence to this important Inquiry where we make the points that the Backlog can only be busted if robust measures are adopted to abbreviate court proceedings including the online management of ADR/ODR.  The imminent re-activation of Housing possession cases on 23 August is just the start of the Tsunami of Litigation that […]

  This blog discusses the case known as Schrems II and provides practical advice to ADR Service Providers (ASPs) and ADR Neutrals about how to manage the fall-out. Judgment was handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 16 July 2020.  We do not address the case in detail; that […]

On 5 June the Government announced the extension of the stay on housing possession claims until the end of August via a Tweet by Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing: “We are suspending evictions from social & private rented accommodation by a further two months.  Eviction hearings will not be heard in courts until […]

The Supreme Court recently decided that bankruptcy and liquidation is no bar to adjudication resolving issues in the construction sector.  Could adjudication solve cash flow issues for all sectors?  As the UK’s battered economy is about to go into freefall our blog looks at the decision in Bresco (17.06.2020) and speculates – is adjudication a […]

We believe this to be the first attempt to provide an empirical analysis of the Civil Justice response to the Lockdown. Using a range of sources from Government updates to Official Statistics and HMCTS’ Management Information a picture is drawn of the crisis which threatens to overwhelm the civil courts, Family courts and the Tribunals.  […]