In this week’s NLJ, Newcastle University’s Bryan Clark, professor of law and civil justice, and Zora Kizilyurek, visiting lecturer, study the decision and conclude that several issues remain unresolved.
Churchill, which finds a judge can order parties to mediate, overturns Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust, which found a judge could not. The decision has been greeted with alacrity by mediators and other staunch proponents of settling disputes in less expensively acrimonious settings than a courtroom. As Clark and Kizilyurek write, it is a ‘seminal decision’.
However, the authors continue: ‘Several stones remain unturned… The circumstances in which it would be improper for a judge to order parties to undertake an ADR process remains unclear with the matter of proportionality likely to be a live issue in cases to come.’
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