In this episode, we focus on mediation. Brick Court Chambers is home to many of the UK’s – indeed the world’s – most highly-regarded mediators. As mediation has taken on a more prominent role in commercial litigation, so Brick Court’s mediation practice has grown alongside it.

For this podcast, we brought together four of the busiest and best known – Sue Prevezer QC, Stephen Ruttle QC, Tony Willis and Bill Wood QC – to chat about the past, present and future of mediation. Their discussion ranged widely, as one would expect, and covered topics such as working as a mediator within a barristers chambers, the relationship of the bar with mediation and the role that mediation could and should play in resolving disputes.

Bill Wood QC

Bill Wood chairs the programme. A leading commercial QC, Bill trained as a mediator in 1999. He was awarded Mediator of the Year 2018 and is ranked #1 Mediation Silk 2019 in WWL’s UK Bar Guide. He is consistently ranked in the top tiers by Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.

Stephen Ruttle QC

Stephen has been in practice at Brick Court Chambers since 1978. He stopped practising as a barrister and QC in 2002 and since then has worked full time as a commercial mediator. For many years he has been rated as one of the leading mediators in the UK. Stephen is also the founder director and chair of Wandsworth Mediation Service.

Tony Willis

Tony is a commercial mediation pioneer, among the first to be trained in 1990, among the first to mediate regularly and then, in 1998, among the first to launch his own independent practice as a full time commercial mediator as the Woolf Reforms to Civil Justice were about to take effect. His background as a litigation partner in Clifford Chance for more than 25 years gave him the experience and standing to undertake a wide range of commercial matters. Tony joined Chambers as a full-time mediator in 2004.

Sue Prevezer QC

After 25 years in practice, including 8 years in silk, Sue was the co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel in London from its inception in 2008 to January 2020 Sue decided to come back to the Bar, joining Brick Court in April 2020 to practise as an arbitrator, mediator and consultant. Sue is an accredited CEDR mediator, a Civil Mediation Council registered mediator, a mediator on the for the Court of Arbitration for Art Panel and a member of the London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation panel of mediators.

Links mentioned in the podcast and other useful links

Brick Court Chambers’ “Guide to Mediation”

CEDR (the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution)

The Civil Mediation Council

The Mediators