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Reasons to be cheerful, Pt 3

01 December 2023 / Stephen Shaw
Issue: 8051 / Categories: Features , Mediation
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Stephen Shaw busts some mediation myths & explains why it’s preferable to ‘litigatory roulette’

I have written in the past, about a few canards that people come up with for not mediating. I thought I’d leave the soppiest till last, so that I could really knock them on the head. But then, after a little more thought, I irritatingly started seeing the other side’s point of view, which I guess is the price you have to pay for being a mediator.

We need cases to develop the law

Part one: ‘If everyone keeps going off and settling their disputes, we’d have no common law, no caselaw, no precedent—and then where would we be?’ At first sight this is truly bonkers. It’s like saying, ‘Let’s encourage everyone to lead unhealthy lifestyles, because without sick people, we won’t have good medical research—and then where would we be?’ Answer: ‘If everyone were healthy, we wouldn’t need medical research—stoopid!’

But of course, it’s not so stoopid, because people get ill, notwithstanding a healthy

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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