My first column in February this year flagged up the fervent desire of Lord Justice Vos, Master of the Rolls, to promote mediation now looks certain that next April the judiciary will be granted powers to order litigants to engage in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) (‘The insider’, NLJ 12 February 2021, p6). A Civil Justice Council review has agreed that it is lawful to compel participation in an ADR process and that it would be desirable to do so in a variety of disputes. A working party is now considering the way forward. Their agenda includes identifying appropriate cases, sanctions for default, the protection of vulnerable parties and whether a court accredited list of approved mediators should be established. It is already dangerous to even ignore, let alone reject, a suggestion that one should address ADR.
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While others seek to predict which football teams will rise to
