ADR - Alternative Dispute Resolution

Speedy, informal, inexpensive, and positively encouraged by the Courts, ADR is increasingly the choice of disputing parties in technical commercial cases. Available either as an alternative to formal proceedings at the outset, or once such proceedings have started, the parties can also choose a format that best suits them and their particular dispute.

Mediation is particularly popular, since it effectively leaves the decision-making in the hands of the parties involved, and allows the parties to work towards solutions which best suit their particular situation and may preserve the business relationship.

Whichever form of ADR is chosen, obtaining specialist advice and representation is recommended so as to ensure that any resolution is not only rapid but also as advantageous to the client as possible.

Keating Chambers and ADR

It is important in ADR for each party to streamline its disputes into a manageable format and to present them concisely and attractively. For this reason, the skills of our expert counsel are particularly valuable. Members of Chambers have vast experience of dealing with substantial and complex disputes and are well used to analysing and presenting the essentials of a dispute to an ADR forum.

Our members have acted for clients in numerous high-value UK and international ADR disputes of all types, including:

a multi-party £10m professional negligence dispute arising out of the construction of a hospital
a two-day mediation held in London relating to a dispute valued at US$500 million between a German contractor and a Philippines power company
a £16 million claim relating to FPSO oil and gas dispute between Norwegian clients
an £8 million multi-party dispute concerning spontaneous failures in glass in a city railway terminal and
a US$8 million dispute concerning a petro-chemical plant in the Slovak Republic.

Appointments as Mediator

Senior members of Keating Chambers are much in demand to act as mediators in relation to complex construction and other disputes, both in the UK and internationally. Several members of Chambers are accredited by CEDR and other leading ADR providers.

Our Members and Other Types Of ADR

In addition to mediation, members of Keating Chambers have extensive experience of procuring other means of resolving disputes speedily and cheaply.

These include ways of encouraging settlement, such as the provision of Early Neutral Evaluations, in which a neutral party hears from both sides of the dispute and gives a non-binding assessment of the likely outcome should the case ultimately proceed. Counsel can also prepare binding and non-binding expert determinations.

Arbitration is an option for clients who want to resolve their disputes in an adversarial fashion. Arbitration also provides certainty, since the arbitrator's decision is binding. Senior members of Chambers are available to act as arbitrators to implement 'fast track' arbitration procedures, in which a dispute can be progressed from Notice of Dispute to Final Award within a very short period (for example, 90 days).

Members of Chambers offer UK and overseas clients a full range of advisory and advocacy services in connection with ADR, at all levels of seniority, ensuring that advice and representation is available at all times.

Further Information
For further information on how our members can assist you, please contact the Senior Clerks, John Munton and Nick Child, in the first instance, on +44(0)20 7544 2600. They and their teams of Clerks will be pleased to advise you on the member of Keating Chambers appropriate to your requirements.