Mediators | Specialist Personal Injury Mediation Services

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The Mediators’ CVs

Martin Cockx

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“Martin’s distinguished contribution to the development of the law in the personal injury field and pioneering work with Injury Lawyers 4U is now matched, in my view, by his very practical and expert grasp of how facilitative mediation is a good business deal with claimant, insurers/defendants and lawyers.” (Tim Wallis)

Qualified: Solicitor (admitted 1987) and Mediator

Education: St Thomas Aquinas Grammar, Manchester Polytechnic

General Information:

Martin is a Solicitor and partner with Amelans and has vast experience of personal injury work. He prides himself on an ability to “do deals” if possible backed by a willingness to litigate if necessary. He was the Solicitor involved in Callery v Gray, Sarwar v Alam, Tilby v Perfect Pizza, Ahmed –v- Powell and Hollins v Russell. These cases helped shape the landscape of the new funding regime and provided much needed guidance regarding the recovery and level of additional liabilities and the operation of the Conditional Fee Agreement regulations.

Martin is a director of Injury Lawyers 4 U, the largest Solicitors marketing consortium in the UK. This is a not for profit company which enable genuine Claimants to contact ethical firms of Solicitors, all such firms having committed to high levels of Client care.

Martin assisted the Civil Justice Council in work on predictive costs and ATE insurance.

Martin has been trained and accredited as a Mediator by ADR Chambers and is a director of Trust Mediation. His knowledge of how cases are dealt with at the coal face provides him with a unique insight into how Clients, Solicitors and insurers tick.

Additional Experience:

Martin sits as a costs assessor for the Law Society and last assisted the High Court in the privacy case of Cox v MGN. He is an advanced Karate practitioner having competed many years ago at national level. He is married with 3 young sons who regularly test his mediation skills to the limit.

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Frances McCarthy

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Qualified: Mediator and Solicitor (admitted 1981)

Education: Poles Convent and Hull University

General Information:

Frances McCarthy is Managing Partner and Head of Personal Injury at Pattinson & Brewer where she acts exclusively for Claimants. She specialises in claims arising from accidents at work and industrial diseases.
She was President of Association of Personal Injury Lawyers from 2000 to 2002. She is a former member of the Civil Justice Council.
She is qualified CEDR mediator and jointly with Tim Wallis mediated various costs issues at the request of the Civil Justice Council including the levels of success fees to be claimed in personal injury cases.
She is a member of Lord Woolf’s working party which developed the personal injury and disease and illness pre-action protocols.

Additional Experience:

She is member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and was the Chair of the International Practice section. She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Personal Injury Law and is the joint editor of APIL Personal Injury Law Practice and Precedents. She contributes to Jordans Civil Court Service.

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Lea Brocklebank

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Her temperament and personality fit mediation very well”

“Her relationship skills are very suited to mediation. She has a degree of energy, enthusiasm and personal warmth. She is relaxed and attentive to the needs of the parties.”

“In reality testing her quiet tone and calmness were extremely helpful.”

“Lea is hugely experienced in insurance work and is fully committed to the mediation process.”

“She built up a good rapport with the parties and, more importantly, very quickly fostered a good rapport between the parties.”

“She was extremely approachable.”

“She got to grips with the issues quickly.”

Professional :

Lea is a Partner at Bond Pearce LLP and was accredited by CEDR as a Mediator in 2005. In 2007 she was appointed as a member of CEDR’s commercial mediator panel. In 2009 she was appointed as a mediator to the panel of Trust Mediation the specialist personal injury mediation company chaired by Sir Henry Brooke. She receives mediation referrals from CEDR, ADR Group, Trust Mediation and direct from the parties.

Lea is a very experienced solicitor and Mediator. She works hard in attending to the needs of the parties and creating a settlement environment during the mediation. She is energetic and enthusiastic and is particularly attentive to Claimants who have been very seriously injured to ensure that they feel able to fully participate in the mediation.

Lea qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and has practiced in the field of personal injury and insurance disputes for 18 years. She deals with catastrophic employers’ liability, public liability and road traffic personal injury claims, together with medical negligence and marine related personal injury claims. She leads the Liability team at Bond Pearce.

Lea is recognised as a leader in her field by Chambers Guide to the UK Legal Profession 2010, describing her as “highly effective and always reasonable”. In 2009 clients said she had “truly amazing judgement and an efficient and meticulous approach to her work”.

She has particular expertise in relation to:

• High value catastrophic brain injury involving young Claimants and children. Her current case load involves a number of catastrophic brain injury claims and she is the named individual lawyer for one client’s catastrophic injury work.

• Coverage issues.

• Occupational stress cases.

• Health and safety advice and representation.

• Psychiatric injury and hysteria.

• Cases involving traumatic amputation and prosthetics.

• Spinal injury

• Cases involving the consideration of funding arrangements for continuing future care.

• Court of Protection issues.

Lea is a past President of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers, and a member of the Health & Safety Lawyers Association. She is an advisory council member of Trust Mediation’s Advisory Council and a Judge for the Personal Injury Awards 2009. She is a member of FOIL’s mediation special interest group. She is also a Trustee of the Wessex Neurological Centre Trust.

Lea has spoken regularly at conferences and industry events organised by Insurance Times, JPIL, Central Law Training, FOIL and the International Underwriting Association. She has also been a regular commentator in the industry press on Process Reform and the Ministry of Justice Consultation on Case Track Limits and Claims Process. She has presented to insurers and Defendant Practitioners on the benefits of mediation.

Mediation Experience :

Personal injury

• A public liability claim for damages against a local authority arising out of a tripping accident where the parties were significantly apart in respect of quantum.
• A high value public liability claim for damages where the Claimant sustained catastrophic injury leaving her paraplegic, where liability was contested by three Defendants.
• A public liability claim for damages for injuries allegedly sustained by the Claimant whilst in the Defendant’s custody; liability was contested by two Defendants.
• An employer’s liability claim for damages by a fisherman who was injured at sea; both liability and quantum were disputed.
• An employer’s liability claim for personal injuries sustained by a claimant on a construction site. Liability was not disputed but there was a substantial difference of opinion on causation between medical experts.
• A claim in negligence for personal injuries sustained by a Claimant caused by a dispensing pharmacist’s mistake resulting in the Claimant undergoing an unnecessary operative procedure.
• A vicarious liability claim for damages for alleged sexual abuse against multiple defendants; consideration of limitation issues and date of knowledge; questions of vicarious liability and quantification of losses between the Defendants.
• A substantial claim for personal injuries brought by a construction worker against multiple defendants who fell from the roof of a warehouse under construction; liability and quantum disputed; issues around whether or not he was a sub-contractor or employee and status and contribution of other contracting parties.
• A substantial claim for personal injuries to a Claimant who sustained orthopaedic and psychiatric injuries from a road traffic accident alleging that the accident had caused her to change her career track as a teacher.
• A substantial claim for personal injuries sustained by an elderly Claimant in a road traffic accident involving issues of ill-health retirement, pension loss and ongoing claims for DIY, gardening and household maintenance.
• A claim for substantial personal injuries and future losses sustained by a teacher. Issues involved quantification for future losses for pension, care, cleaner, gardener, farm hand and future loss of earnings.
• A substantial claim for personal injuries pleaded just under £3,000,000 brought by a Claimant who was injured in a road traffic accident as a child. Involving issues of adequate future provision, including future loss of earnings, pension, future case management and support worker, future employment of nanny.

Landlord and tenant

• Relationship between tenant and Housing Association; parties negotiating a future communications strategy following breakdown of relationship.
• Dispute in relation to repair works and access to the Claimant’s home; status of tenancy in issue.
• Dispute between property owner and managing agent.

Contractual disputes

• Dispute between a company and employee in relation to a loan; issue of whether or not it was an option to purchase.

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Brian Dawson

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“Brian Dawson was one of the four founding minds behind the creation of the pioneering Chester Mediation scheme which was based at Chester Civil Justice Centre and which ran from 2004 until absorbed into the (marginally less effective ) National Scheme in 2008. The Chester Scheme was one of the most successful schemes in the country. It settled 81.4% of the cases referred to it and Brian’s role in liaison between the Court and the Association of Northern Mediators was vital to this success.

He is the Senior Partner of the largest Solicitors’ firm in Chester and is widely regarded as being one of the leading personal injury litigation lawyers in the North West of England with very wide experience in such cases. His skills as both a negotiator and as a mediator are formidable and his knowledge of this area of the law is encyclopaedic.

He is pleasant, courteous and approachable. I have no hesitation in recommending him as a mediator”.

His Honour Judge Derek Halbert

Qualified: Mediator (ADR Group 1996, CEDR 2001), Solicitor (1980).

Education: Rossall School & Manchester University.

General Information:

Brian Dawson is the Senior Partner at Walker Smith Way, which is a firm comprising 28 Partners and a staff of 130 in total. He has extensive experience in personal injury claims gained from over 27 years of practising law in this area. He specialises in Claimant Personal Injury, Disease and Clinical Negligence, including spinal brain injuries and catastrophic injury claims. His experience as a Solicitor is as a Civil Litigator.

Brian is a Deputy District Judge and currently is the APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) Co-ordinator for Wales.

He set up and ran the very successful Chester Civil Justice Centre Mediation Scheme for a number of years.

Mediation:

Brian is an accredited Mediator with CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) and ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution Group) and is also a Member of the Association of Northern Mediators. He has mediated in a wide variety of cases but specialises in professional negligence of all types and in particular clinical negligence, personal injury and all civil litigation matters including commercial, contract and consumer.

Additional Experience

He is a fellow of APIL and a member of The Law Society Personal Injury Panel, and he is a former member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel and AVMA Clinical Negligence Panel.

He is identified as a specialist solicitor by both the Spinal Injuries Association and Headway.

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Sir Henry Brooke

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Sir Henry’s mediation skills were excellent; he facilitated a settlement when we feared we would not reach one.”

“Sir Henry was fantastic at pointing out the risks to both sides. This undoubtedly narrowed the issues even if it did not settle.”

“I was very impressed with Sir Henry. He only said things when they needed saying. He was very helpful and his bedside manner with the claimant was second to none.”

Qualified: Mediator (formerly Barrister/Judge, called 1963 (Inner Temple), QC 1981

Judicial Career:

High Court Judge (Queen’s Bench Division) 1988
Lord Justice of Appeal 1996
Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) 2003
Retired 2006

General Information:

Sir Henry Brooke is a common lawyer with great experience of personal injury litigation both at the Bar and on the Bench. As Chairman of the Law Commission he was heavily involved with its major law reform study on personal injury damages. At the Bar he was usually instructed by claimants’ solicitors. He was also instructed often by the Medical Defence Union, appearing as leading counsel for the defendants in such cases as Sidaway v Bethlem & Maudsley Hospitals and Wilsher v Essex AHA.

After National Service in the Royal Engineers and four years at Balliol College Oxford studying classics and ancient history, Sir Henry opened his first law book at the age of 25. He was for a number of years a member of the Advisory Council for the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at Oxford and a member of the Board of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at London University. He is chairman of the Trustees of BAILII (the free access legal website).

Sir Henry has been trained and accredited as a mediator by ADR Chambers, CEDR and the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, and has conducted over 130 mediations, many of them in personal injury cases. He writes about mediation in learned journals and frequently lectures on mediation, both in this country and abroad. He is Chairman of the Civil Mediation Council and of Trust Mediation.

Education: Marlborough College; Balliol College Oxford (First Class honours)

Additional Experience:

Chairman of four Bar Council Committees 1985-1991; Chairman of the Law Commission January 1993 – December 1995; Chairman of Disciplinary Tribunals at Lloyd’s 1985-7; he now sits occasionally in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

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Judith Kelbie

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The leading personal injury mediator in this country who undertakes complex and often seemingly intractable work, Judith Kelbie is an internationally known practitioner and mediation trainer who deploys incisive neutral facilitation skills in all her cases.”

Specialisms :

- Liability cases: road traffic, employment, highway, disease and public liability
- High value / complexity personal injury quantum disputes
- Loss of a chance / loss of career cases
- MOD cases including parachuting, flying, diving, training, and bullying
- Motor vehicle and motorcycle claims and issues
- Spinal, brain injury, and catastrophic injury cases

Career History :

- Qualified Electronics Engineer 1983
- Former Royal Navy Officer
- 1994 to 2009 Lyons Davidson
- 2000 to date Head of Motorcycle Claims Group
- 2002 to 2009 Partner Lyons Davidson
- 2003 to date MASS and CLT personal injury courses leader/trainer
- 2004 to date Mediation training tutor and leader: UK, Ireland, India, New Zealand
- 2005 to 2009 Partner In Charge, Lyons Davidson Leeds (140 fee earners/staff)
- 2009 to date Independent Mediator with Trust Mediation and Judith Kelbie LLP

Qualifications & Experience :

- Member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Specialist Panel
- Member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
- 16 years personal injury litigation experience
- 3 times Peer-Elected Board Member of the Civil Mediation Council (2005 to date)
- Member of the Association of Northern Mediators
- Accredited by ADR Chambers, Clerksroom, Trust Mediation, CI Arbitrators

Recently instructed by:

Treasury Solicitor; DAC; Hextalls; Amelans; Colemans-CTTS; Hill Dickinson; Irwin Mitchell; Pannones; Weightmans; Greenwoods; HSBC; Tradex; MOD; MCA; BL&G; Beers; Ross Aldridge; Wilkin Chapman; Beachcrofts, and many others.

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Tim Wallis

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When I was an officer with APIL, I was involved with negotiating success fees in respect of road traffic and accident at work cases. This was under the auspices of the CJC (Civil Justice Council). One of the mediators involved was Tim Wallis. I was very impressed with the way he conducted his work. He was very approachable, helpful, certainly had extensive knowledge of personal injury work. I would have no hesitation in agreeing to him being a mediator in a personal injury case in which I am involved. Colin Ettinger, Partner with Irwin Mitchell, Past President of APIL.

Qualified : Mediator (1994), Solicitor (1976).

Professional – Legal : Initially personal injury claims for trade union claimants. Subsequently EL, PL, RTA and product liability for defendants and insurers. Commercial litigation (including partnership disputes, chancery and property litigation), employment disputes, education matters, clinical negligence claims, other professional negligence claims and professional disciplinary hearings.

Career – Legal : Crutes Law Firm. Partner 1981 – 2006. Posts held: Head of Insurance Litigation Department, Joint Managing Partner, Senior Partner and Chairman.

Professional –Mediation : Matters mediated since 1994 include: Personal Injury claims. All manner of personal injury claims including fast track, high value, product liability, disease, stress, fatal, multi party and Court of Appeal claims. Civil Justice Council (CJC)/Ministry of Justice (MoJ) mediations. Since 2005, on the instructions of the CJC and the MoJ, Tim has co-mediated (with mediators including Frances McCarthy, Michael Napier QC and Bob Musgrove) numerous “industry agreements” between personal injury practitioners and the insurance industry. These related to predictable costs and success fees in personal injury cases and fixed fees in the MoJ pi claims process. Most such agreements had a value of millions of pounds to the industry and were later confirmed as Rules in the CPR. In 2010, Tim was instructed by claimants’ solicitors, trade unions and insurers to independently chair the Project Steering Group charged with implementing the electronic portal for the MoJ pi process with Insurance Database Services Limited. He also carried out mediations under the auspices of the CJC during the 2009 Costs Review by Jackson LJ. Commercial litigation claims. Insurance related disputes and claims, professional negligence claims, property matters, employment disputes, education and other public sector disputes and commercial disputes in areas such as property, contract, chancery, inheritance, partnership, company, construction and insolvency. Such mediations have been carried out for a variety of mediation providers including Expedite Resolution.

Memberships : Founder member of the Civil Justice Council, chairs its Dispute Resolution Committee. American Bar Association (Dispute Resolution Section). Formerly a member of the Law Society’s Civil Litigation and ADR Committees. Formerly a director of ADR Net Ltd, part of ADR Group. President of FOIL, 2002. Tim is also a member of a number of mediation organisations that are accredited by the Civil Mediation Council, including ADR Group, North West Mediation Solutions and Northern Dispute Resolutions.

Education : Carre’s Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic.

Publications : Tim writes on ADR and mediation for Sweet and Maxwell (ADR sections in “The White Book”, “The Litigation Practice” and “The Civil Litigation Handbook”). He frequently has articles published and lectures on mediation.

Additional Experience : Tim has regularly visited North America to research the use and development of ADR.

PS from Tim: I think that a little humour and plenty of enthusiasm and energy help a mediation along, but I count patience and indefatigability as my main mediator qualities. I owe these to the fact that they are regularly tested and honed by the burden of following Nottingham Forest FC! Seriously, I enjoy mediating enormously and count myself very lucky to have developed a broad range of experience in many types of dispute. Sometimes there are interesting technical disputes but very often – it’s the People, stupid!

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Philip Hesketh

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I was astounded that this one settled as there was a huge amount of animosity between the parties. Thank you ever so much for your assistance.”

“It is not often that we get the chance to meet mediators prior to their instruction and therefore their approach and attitude is unknown. Your pragmatic and grounded approach is reassuring.”

Qualified :

Mediator (2006 – ADR Group), Solicitor (admitted 1991)

Education :

Leicester University
The College of Law, Chester

Professional :

Philip worked as a Solicitor at national claimant personal injury specialists Thompsons (Liverpool & Manchester) and Russell Jones & Walker (Manchester). He gained considerable experience in employers liability and disease claims including stress at work. He was a Senior Litigator member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and a member of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel. After 19 years as a personal injury Solicitor he set up his full time mediation practice in 2008.

His mediation experience includes personal injury claims for liability only, quantum only and both liability and quantum up to a value of £4 million. He also has mediation experience of commercial contract disputes, employment claims and general civil mediation claims.

He now serves on the Provider Forum of the National Mediation Helpline and is a volunteer Mediator for LawWorks. He provides mediation training to personal injury Solicitors.

Associations :

Philip is a board member of the Association of Northern Mediators and leads the Association’s Personal Injury Special Interest Group. He is a Mediator member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a mediator panel member of ADR Net.

Publications :

Philip is the author of The Personal Injury Mediation Service. He is a regular contributor to APIL Focus magazine and the Personal Injury Brief Update and has written for the Law Society’s dispute resolution magazine Solutions, The Association of North West Law Societies, The Chamber of Commerce and The Association of District Judges.

PS from Phil :

Like most mediators I thoroughly enjoy the work I do. Having years of experience of the personal injury litigation process I can confirm that mediation is not an “easy option”. It is hard work for all concerned but can and often does produce excellent results for both sides. I try and create a calm, relaxed but professional atmosphere for everybody involved.

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Andrea Barnes

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Qualified: Mediator (2002), Barrister (1999).

Professional – Legal

Andrea has ten years post qualification experience as a Barrister-at-law specialising in personal injury, clinical negligence, credit hire, credit finance, general commercial and contract law. Andrea’s current practice is approximately 60% claimant and 40% defendant.

Professional – Mediation

Andrea has seven years experience as an accredited Mediator and is one of the original founder mediators of the Court Based Mediation Scheme. Since accreditation Andrea has mediated a variety of disputes including equine, insurance claims, personal injury, credit hire and intellectual property. Particular mediation specialisms include personal injury, credit hire, credit finance, clinical negligence, motorcycle liability issues, low velocity collision claims, automatism issues, catastrophic injury cases, costs, commercial, insurance and contract law.

Career

Prior to qualifying as a Barrister, Andrea undertook nine months secondment to Zurich Insurance plc giving pre-litigation case management advice on personal injury and property claims. Andrea also spent four years gaining PI defendant insurance litigation experience working in-house for Davies Arnold Cooper, in particular, on catastrophic and general personal injury claims, credit hire and credit finance issues. Andrea has also enjoyed two years experience as a Commercial negotiator for the Ministry of Defence and GEC Marconi Communications dealing with worldwide contract tenders, sales and maintenance agreements.

Education

University of Greenwich, London; Inns of Court School of Law, London

Affiliations

Member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
Member of the Civil Mediation Council
Member of the Bar Council List of Approved Mediators

Mediation Trainer and Lecturer for

Motor Accident Solicitors’ Society (MASS)
Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation
CLT Professional Training
Western Circuit
Clerksroom
London School of Mediation
218 Strand London
General Council of the Bar
Bar Council of Ireland
Ministry of Justice

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Paul Balen

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Just wanted to thank you for your mediation yesterday. I have to confess I have hitherto been slightly sceptical of the value of mediation, working on the basis that 2 reasonable counsel could thrash out most issues.

I have to say I was very impressed with the way you conducted matters and would be the first to concede that I very much doubt the claim would have settled but for your input.” (Claimant’s counsel 2009)

Qualified: Mediator (2004), Solicitor (1977).

Career History :

Educated Nottingham High School; First Class Honours degree in Law and President of University Law Society at Cambridge. Articled at Freeth Cartwright solicitors in Nottingham 1975; qualified as a solicitor 1977 and became partner, now a member, of what is now Freeth Cartwright LLP in 1980. President of the Nottinghamshire Law Society 2005-6; President Nottinghamshire Medico-Legal Society 2007-8. Secretary APIL 1998-2000. Senior Fellow APIL.

Experience:

Paul has long experience in advising in a wide range of complex clinical negligence and personal injury cases including.

He has a national reputation for the coordination of multi-party actions and the creation of compensation/alternative dispute resolution schemes in groups of claims including liaison with foreign jurisdictions.

He has a wide interest in sports law, including acting from time to time in disputes involving international sportsmen in the rugby, cricket, shooting and football fields.

He has extensive experience in dispute resolution in particular in negotiating and implementing settlement schemes involving both public bodies and commercial (and international) insurers.

Mediation:

Paul is described in Chambers 2008/09 as “like a dog with a bone” when given a difficult case. “He’s incredibly clever and hard-working and he gets results,” “He is particularly commended for his strategic thinking”. He “knows what’s what,” say commentators. He is famed for his “extremely professional” demeanour and his “sensible approach to cases”.

Described as ‘a good all-rounder’”. He is rated as “one of the most highly rated practitioners in the country”.

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Our specialist Personal Injury Mediators

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