North East law firm Hay & Kilner has set up a dedicated commercial mediation service to support regional businesses resolve commercial disputes as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Headed by associate and qualified mediator Adam Chaffer, the new service is designed for companies, business partners and shareholders in all sectors that seeking to resolve their conflicts to do so pragmatically without incurring time and expense of progressing matters to trial.
Adam Chaffer is registered with both the Society of Mediators and as an associate member of the Civil Mediation Council, and has successfully completed industry accreditations through the Society of Mediators which involve both written and practical examination.
A skilled commercial litigator and the author of the Law Society’s Litigation Handbook, Adam has extensive experience of both resolving disputes out of court and of working at board level in both public and private sector organisations, allowing him to understand the benefit of resolving disputes of court both from a practical but also commercial rationale.
Alongside his legal practice, he currently serves as a director of and company secretary Visit Northumberland Limited, the destination management organisation for the county, and is the Northumberland National Park Authority’s Independent Person for Standards.
The latest official industry figures show that around 17,000 commercial mediations were carried out in the UK during 2022, with the yearly total now back above where it stood before the pandemic and continuing to rise.
Adam Chaffer says: “Disputes will naturally arise in many commercial situations, and can cause commercial relationships and wider projects to be delayed, costs to rapidly increase, jobs to be lost and even companies to fail if timely solutions aren’t found.
“Mediation provides a forum for parties to come to a resolution commercially and practically.
“Business disagreements may sometime seem unresolvable, but with the right commitment from all parties, successful outcomes can often be secured far more quickly and efficiently than might otherwise have been possible through traditional adversarial proceedings.”
For fiurther information on Hay & Kilner’s commercial mediation service, please contact Adam Chaffer via adam.chaffer@hay-kilner.co.uk or call 0191 232 8345.