--- title: Dispute Resolution Beyond The Courtroom description: Alternative dispute resolution should now be on the radar of every lawyer handling personal injury and other insurance-related claims. image: https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/hubfs/Copy%20of%20website%20graphic%20for%20JPIL.%20(1).png --- [![Trust ADR Logo White High Res](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Trust%20ADR%20Logo%20White%20High%20Res.png?width=1250&height=438&name=Trust%20ADR%20Logo%20White%20High%20Res.png "Trust ADR Logo White High Res")](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/) [![Trust ADR Logo White High Res](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Trust%20ADR%20Logo%20White%20High%20Res.png?width=1250&height=438&name=Trust%20ADR%20Logo%20White%20High%20Res.png "Trust ADR Logo White High Res")](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/) - About - [About trust ADR](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/about-trust-adr) - [Meet Our Expert Panel](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/trust-mediation-panel) - Services #### Mediation - [Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation) - [Personal Injury Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/personal-injury-mediation) - [Medical Negligence Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/medical-negligence-mediation) - [Evaluative Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/evaluative-mediation) - [Facilitative Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/facilitative-mediation/) - [Mediation Fees](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/mediation-fees) - [NHS Resolution](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/nhs-resolution) #### Evaluation - [Neutral Evaluation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/neutral-evaluation) - [Neutral Evaluation Fees](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/neutral-evaluation/fees) #### Arbitration - [Arbitration](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/arbitration) - [Med Arb](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/arbitration/med-arb) #### International - [International ADR Services](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/international-adr)   #### Support For Lawyers - [ADR Champions](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/adr-champions) - [Training](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/training) - [Bespoke ADR Services](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/bespoke-adr-services) - [ADR Concierge](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/adr-concierge) - [How It Works](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/how-mediation-works) - Resources - [Blog](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog) - [Case Studies](https://trustmediation-5338016.hs-sites.com/blog/tag/case-studies) - [Webinars](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/webinars) [020 3355 1970](tel:02033551970) [Contact Us](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/contact) [020 3355 1970](tel:02033551970) [Contact Us](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/contact) - About - [About Trust ADR](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/about-trust-adr) - [Meet Our Expert Panel](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/trust-mediation-panel) - Services - Mediation - [Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation) - [Personal Injury Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/personal-injury-mediation) - [Clinical Negligence Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/medical-negligence-mediation) - [Evaluative Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/evaluative-mediation) - [Facilitative Mediation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/facilitative-mediation/) - [Mediation Fees](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/mediation-fees) - [NHS Resolution](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/mediation/nhs-resolution) - Evaluation - [Neutral Evaluation](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/neutral-evaluation) - [Neutral Evaluation Fees](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/neutral-evaluation/fees) - Arbitration - [Arbitration](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/arbitration) - [Med Arb](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/arbitration/med-arb) - Support for Lawyers - [ADR Champions](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/adr-champions) - [Training](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/training) - [How It Works](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/how-mediation-works) - Resources - [Blog](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog) - [Case Studies](https://trustmediation-5338016.hs-sites.com/blog/tag/case-studies) - [Webinars](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/webinars) [Contact Us](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/contact) [020 3355 1970](tel:02033551970) # Dispute Resolution Beyond The Courtroom by [trust ADR](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/author/trust-adr) 5 min read Nov 5, 2026, 4:07:21 PM Alternative dispute resolution should now be on the radar of every lawyer handling personal injury and other insurance-related claims. This article, written for FOIL, reviews how claims have traditionally been resolved, what mediation can add, and why recent procedural and technological developments are likely to make ADR increasingly relevant. Tim Wallis says "I write as a mediator and ADR provider, a former litigator and a former FOIL president. My starting point is familiar: most insurance disputes are resolved without a trial. Some cases plainly need judicial determination, and the proportion of claims reaching trial varies by claim type, but the great majority settle, are withdrawn or conclude by another route. The work is therefore often better described by Marc Galanter’s term “litigotiation”: negotiating claims in the shadow of the courtroom." **Traditional methods remain effective** Insurance lawyers have long resolved claims through direct negotiation, Part 36 offers, telephone discussions, video meetings, joint settlement meetings and round-table meetings. These are tried and tested methods. Their success is one reason why some practitioners have seen little need to add mediation to an already effective process. The uptake of mediation has nevertheless varied markedly between sectors. Professional indemnity, construction and commercial practitioners adopted it relatively early. Clinical negligence has also seen substantial activity, particularly since NHS Resolution established its mediation scheme in 2016. Personal injury practice has generally moved more cautiously. That caution is understandable. Lawyers and insurers may reasonably ask whether mediation will add value, whether it duplicates work already undertaken, and whether its cost is proportionate. In my experience, however, those questions are best answered case by case rather than by assuming that mediation is either routinely necessary or routinely unnecessary. There are already areas in which mediation has proved especially useful. Multi-party claims are an obvious example, because a neutral can help manage several relationships, insurance positions and contribution issues. Stress-at-work claims may also benefit where personal, relational or reputational concerns sit alongside legal analysis. Some judges have routinely made orders staying personal injury claims for mediation. In the cases referred to Trust Mediation following such orders, the claims settled either on the day or shortly afterwards. Clinical negligence provides a further illustration. In Trust Mediation’s experience, more than half of these mediations now take place before proceedings, and about 80% result in settlement or withdrawal. That experience cannot simply be applied to every insurance portfolio, but it suggests that early mediation has the potential to produce significant savings in legal cost, management time and claims duration. **What mediation may add** The relevant comparison is not mediation versus trial. It is often mediation versus direct negotiation or a joint settlement meeting. A JSM may be entirely sufficient. Mediation may add value where the parties need a more structured process, where communication has become difficult, where several parties or insurers are involved, where early settlement is a priority for one or more parties in a case of some complexity, where there are psychological elements or where the apparent gap between the parties cannot be explained solely by different views of liability, causation and quantum. Consider a claim in which the claimant’s schedule values the case at £10X and the defendant’s counter-schedule at £2X. Both figures may be supported by respectable analysis, yet the gap may be hundreds of thousands of pounds or more. A settlement meeting may bridge it through an offer and counter-offer process (adversarial bargaining). In mediation, that process may still occur, but private discussions with an experienced neutral can also test: - the assumptions underlying each valuation; - the parties’ actual objectives and priorities; - the value placed on early resolution; - the claimant’s need to be heard, achieve closure or address other personal concerns; - the parties’ appetite for disclosure, expert evidence and trial; - management time, opportunity cost and reputational effects; - strategic issues between lawyers, insurers and repeat participants; - possible overconfidence or anchoring; and - the practicality and enforceability of settlement terms. Any one of these matters may unlock an impasse. The mediator’s contribution is not to replace legal analysis or the lawyers’ judgment, but to create a process in which the parties can examine the whole dispute, including considerations that may not fit neatly into pleadings, schedules or Part 36 calculations. **The direction of travel** Recent developments make it increasingly difficult to treat ADR as peripheral. In *Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council* \[2023\] EWCA Civ 1416, the Court of Appeal confirmed that courts may lawfully order parties to engage in a non-court-based dispute resolution process, provided the order does not impair the essence of the right to a judicial hearing and is proportionate. Amendments effective from 1 October 2024 then integrated ADR more expressly into the overriding objective, case-management powers and costs framework. ([Courts and Tribunals Judiciary](https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/james-churchill-v-merthyr-tydfil-county-borough-council/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) The Civil Justice Council’s review of Pre-Action Protocols has also recommended a stronger and more consistent focus on dispute resolution before proceedings. Those recommendations have not all been implemented, so prediction should be cautious, but the policy direction is clear. ([Courts and Tribunals Judiciary](https://www.judiciary.uk/related-offices-and-bodies/advisory-bodies/cjc/previous-work/pre-action-protocols-working-group/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) Mediation is already an integrated, required step for many defended money claims worth up to £10,000. HMCTS reported that monthly small-claims mediations rose from about 1,900 in March 2024 to more than 8,000 in March 2026. This does not establish that the same model will suit personal injury claims, but it demonstrates the scale at which court-connected mediation can operate. ([GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/faster-resolution-for-small-claims-as-mediation-baked-into-courts-process?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) Other developments are also relevant: - time-limited online mediation may offer a proportionate option for some fast-track and intermediate-track claims; - neutral evaluation can provide an independent view on likely outcomes or defined issues; - mediation in which mediators may express opinions, predictions or recommendations (evaluative mediation) may suit parties who specifically want that input; - arbitration, including online arbitration, may offer a binding and proportionate determination in suitable lower-value disputes; and - online dispute resolution platforms, increasingly supported by artificial intelligence, may help parties move between negotiation, mediation, evaluation and adjudication. The likely future is therefore not the replacement of litigation or established settlement methods by mediation. It is a broader dispute-resolution system in which lawyers and insurers select from a range of processes, sometimes combining them and moving from one to another as the claim develops. **A practical response** Insurance lawyers need not become enthusiastic adopters of every new process. A more useful response is to develop criteria for identifying cases in which mediation or another process may improve the prospects of an earlier, better-informed or more economical resolution. Questions might include: Is there a multi-party or contribution problem? Has negotiation stalled despite adequate information? Are non-monetary concerns affecting the claim? Is there a large valuation gap driven by different assumptions? Would a neutral help the parties test risk confidentially? Could an online or time-limited process be proportionate? Not every suggested development will occur in the form or at the pace currently anticipated. Traditional negotiation, Part 36 offers and JSMs will remain central. The direction of travel is nevertheless clear: ADR and online dispute resolution are becoming more closely integrated into civil justice. For those leading dispute resolution departments, advising insurers or developing their own practice, the opportunity is to consider deliberately where these processes can complement methods that already work well.   - Recent - Topics - Archive Recent Topics - [News and Views (9)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/tag/news-and-views) - [Case Studies (8)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/tag/case-studies) Archive - [June 2026 (9)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2026/06) - [May 2026 (1)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2026/05) - [October 2025 (1)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2025/10) - [August 2025 (1)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2025/08) - [June 2025 (2)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2025/06) - [March 2025 (1)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2025/03) - [February 2025 (1)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2025/02) - [January 2025 (1)](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/archive/2025/01) See all ### Subscribe by email Share this [Share on X](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/dispute-resolution-beyond-the-courtroom&text=Dispute+Resolution+Beyond+The+Courtroom) [Share on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/dispute-resolution-beyond-the-courtroom&t=Dispute+Resolution+Beyond+The+Courtroom) [Share on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/dispute-resolution-beyond-the-courtroom&t=Dispute+Resolution+Beyond+The+Courtroom) Previous story [← Case Study: What The Claimant Really Wanted To Say](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/blog/a-personal-injury-mediation-case-study-what-the-claimant-really-wanted-to-say) ### Get Email Notifications [![Trust ADR Logo White High Res](https://www.trustmediation.org.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/Trust%20ADR%20Logo%20White%20High%20Res.png?width=180&height=63&name=Trust%20ADR%20Logo%20White%20High%20Res.png)](https://trustmediation-5338016.hs-sites.com/homepage) Specialist ADR for personal injury and clinical negligence claims. 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