HUMAN LAW MEDIATION

Is mediation the only available recourse to justice for some?

Consider this piece by Justice Lightman in the Times which is an edited version of speech that he gave to law firm, SJ Berwin.

"Do not believe that justice can be readily achieved by litigants acting in person. Quite the reverse. They cannot generally distinguish what is and what is not arguable, what course serves their interest and what risks they run over costs. Their liability for an opponent’s costs so often renders the perceived injustice that prompted proceedings a mere pin prick compared with the final (self-inflicted) pain.

As a result there is a crucial need for mediation as a palliative – as the only available recourse of those who cannot afford the costs and risks of litigation, and the chance of justice that it affords."

BlawgWorld 2007 is here

I am pleased to inform you of the release of BlawgWorld 2007. For those of you new to BlawgWorld, TechnoLawyer/Peerviews Inc. have put together 77 exemplary posts and essays by 77 blawgers into one e-book.

Last year's edition of BlawgWorld was downloaded 45,000+ times. This year's edition, which also includes the 2007 TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide should improve on that.

You can download BlawgWorld 2007 for no charge at this link.

IP ADR Blog moves home

I have previously posted about the creation of the IP ADR Blog  which is co-authored by Victoria Pynchon and others. Well the blog has continued its evolution and has a new design and a new home at this address.

Put into your favourites, blog rolls or into your RSS feeds. Great work by Lexblog who helped with the design and support on this one; Well done Kevin O'Keefe and the team.   

Whilst writing, Victoria Pynchon is due to speak at a leading IP Conference within the United Kingdom in early October 2007. More details will no doubt follow but I hope to have the opportunity to hear her speak then.

Human Law Mediation launches new website

I am pleased to inform you that Human Law Mediation has now launched a new website which can be found at www.human-law.co.uk

Content for the website was was prepared by Teresa Harris of Second Opinion Marketing and the actual site was put online by Zarr.

I would like to thank solicitor, Andrew Woolley of Woolley & Co who introduced me to Teresa Harris. She has been instumental in the launch of the website.   

The response of the defendant insurers regarding mediation

I have previously posted about whether defendant insurance lawyers are trying to defeat mediation. This followed a government report which alleged that they were trying to defeat the use of mediation.

In this weeks' Law Society Gazette, Terry Renouf, national senior partner of Berrymans Lace Mawer issues his response.

As he writes:

"Mediation works. This is the unequivocal message from this firm, from other defendant practitioners, and from our  insurer clients.

Our collective experience is that the overwhelming majority of mediated cases do settle. It is therefore with some disappointment that I read the article suggesting defendant personal injury lawyers are to blame for ‘defeating mediation’, based on research carried  out for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) by Professor Dame Hazel Genn (see [2007] Gazette, 31 May, 1)."