Mediation

al-Khatib v Masry CA TLR 21 October

There is no family dispute, however embattled, that is not open to successful mediation. It is, however, important to have judicial supervision of the process of mediation. It was a great misfortune that at the time of the hearing for permission to appeal in June 2002, when the parties were invited to mediate, the administration of the Court of Appeal ADR scheme had passed to the specialist field of commercial litigation. It was also unfortunate that having made the order to mediate there was no continuing judicial supervision of the mediation and it was abandoned. It is not enough for the supervising Lord Justice simply to make an order for mediation. Selection of an appropriate mediator is crucial, as is the availability of the supervising Lord Justice to deal with emerging crises.