Experience

I've worked in civil disputes since 2001. I trained as a litigation solicitor in West London, qualifying in 2004, and have litigated since, including as a full equity partner and head of department in the South West for over a decade. 

I've conducted an enormous range of cases across the country, particularly contested probates, boundaries, and other property disputes, my specialist bread and butter areas. 

I've also litigated many commercial agreements, tenancies (residential and commercial), European procurement, faulty goods, building works, esoteric things like mundic reports, tin mines, and unregistered land, and practically anything else imaginable. I've run most strategies known to English litigation at one time or another. I know how litigators think and come assembled with a litigator's instincts. 

I've worked with (or against) some of the biggest law firms in the country, and surprised and upset them. I've dealt with and contained difficult people on opposing sides and my own. I’ve been deep in the trenches and gone on holiday with files in the boot. 

I've won (and occasionally lost) challenging cases, turning unknown predictions into reliable precedents which are now cited in practitioners’ textbooks, including the White Book. I understand the responsibilities that litigation professionals shoulder, as well as the stresses that their clients suffer in facing the unknown outcomes of litigation against an opponent who will not budge. 

My notable cases list is longer and broader than most solicitors anywhere. I've had overall and day to day control over these reported or notable cases, which ran to final hearing at the High Court or equivalent, some of which have received wider attention and commentary, and others which are now relied upon legal precedent, and many more in the County Court where I've worked day to day. Most were achieved as litigation partner at Nalders LLP, where I was head of litigation for more than a decade, taking on cases against some of the UK's largest and most powerful firms and their clients. 

However, in all of those cases, very few parties left the process particularly happy, or with any emotion better than instant gratification. The winners celebrated of course, but not without regret for the work and money they needed to put in, and that they shouldn't have had to do it. A lot came back when they had to deal with difficult enforcement problems. Not one of them enjoyed enduring it, and none ever appreciated their name being cited as a future legal authority, or would recommend the litigation process as fun. 

So I approach mediations very aware that they are conducted under the shadow of litigation and trial. As litigator, I've put on my coat and walked out and taken my chances, win or lose. I've stalled agreeing to mediation because I didn't want my clients to have to concede to things that they shouldn't. I believe that litigants should never be denied their right to have a final determination by the Court, and appreciate more than most that trial is the ultimate objective. 

But, after seeing how there are so often underlying unspoken issues besides the pleaded subject of a dispute, and witnessing the stress inherent in litigation take its toll on ordinary people, I believe that it would be a tragedy to miss the possibility of trying to unlock a dispute if that possibility exists; and it nearly always does. 

I use plain and direct words and straightforward language unless forced to play a lawyer. I'm a normal person, pretty easy to work with. I like motorbikes, all-grain home brewing, barbecues, good music, dad-stuff, and climbing to the secret beaches without a second thought about how to get back up when the tide comes in: the usual things. 

I learned early on that disputes happen everywhere, not just London and the big cities, which is why I live with my family in Falmouth (apparently making me mainland Britain’s most South Westerly mediator), but I'm happy to travel anywhere, as long as I can come home afterwards in time for low tide (or failing that, tomorrow's low tide). 

I've experienced many mediations and seen good (and not so good) mediators. I have learned from and am proud to have been guided by spending time and training with some of the absolute best currently practising in the UK. 

I am a registered mediator with the Civil Mediation Council, registration number 2345. 

Want to know more? Call me directly on 01326546885, start a WhatsApp conversation, or email.