Lord Judge described the vital role of mediation in resolving potentially costly, long-drawn-out disputes at an early stage.
“Now time and time again, in practice as a barrister and now as a judge, I have been perfectly well aware that if only the parties had come together at an early stage, long before they saw their counsel, long before they got to the door of the court, they could have resolved their dispute at a fraction of the cost and without the emotional expenditure and commitment of time and energy required by the litigation.”
But those involved with mediation must, he warned, take care to make sure that the system did not become too formal and procedural:
“It really must not eventually become just one more part of the expensive process that all of us are trying to avoid.”
