Viewpoint

“I’m a solicitor, a sole practitioner, and have been working in mediation since 1991, including the last four years with the NSW Small Business Commission, on its external mediation panel. I think it’s a great service that the Commission offers to the public – it’s cheap and it’s efficient.

I’ve been extremely busy in the past year. In November 2021, I did 14 mediations in just 20 business days, all COVID-related lease disputes.

I became a mediator because I had seen how useful it was in disputes when I was acting for clients in the construction industry. I also think the money that’s spent on litigation is often wasted money. What litigation does is keep the parties apart as opposed to bringing them together in an environment where they can have a bare-bones talk about the issues.

If you have spent a lot of money on legal fees it can be a disincentive to settlement. And if the parties in
a dispute are only communicating by sending letters through their lawyers, it can also just dig them further into their positions.

In a mediation, I try to get the parties actually talking directly to one another rather than through their lawyers. Most people still bring a lawyer, though it’s not compulsory.

When you talk to the parties, you find out what’s really important to them. Often people will tell the other side things about their situation that might be nothing to do with the law or the strict application of the regulations. But those things can have a real impact on how a landlord looks at the tenant, for instance.

At the end of the day, it’s the two people in dispute who have to decide to settle, not their lawyers.”