NLJ this week: How to navigate the FPR changes

Caroline Bowden, consultant, mediator and solicitor at Anthony Gold, provides an informative and advice-packed guide to the changes due to take effect on 29 April.

Bowden explains that, while mediation is not compulsory, the FPR changes are likely to affect how solicitors work. She advises: ‘If in doubt, send your client to a MIAM, and consider every viable option to reach settlement before issuing or continuing a court case.

Bowden’s article covers the MIAM (mediation information and assessment meeting) exemptions, the need to consider whether there have been ‘genuine attempts to settle at every stage’, and ‘the need to be mindful of potential costs consequences’.