I have often been forced down the lawyer path of giving construction dispute advice with the preamble of “on the one hand, and on the other”, I was thus somewhat surprised to read that Helen Garthwaite (23 June, page 80) has the confidence to take a firm view.
She was pleading the case for judge mediators and had noted that “Interestingly some mediation clauses specify that the mediator shall be … A lawyer”. This, she suggested, was because clients “love” judges.
Well, “interestingly”, her article began with the word “Cynics” (which describes most folk in construction) and she should therefore not be surprised that the interpretation I put on this ‘lawyer-preference’ is not that clients value judges but that lawyers – who instigate all the changes in quite serviceable standard form (if the parties do what they have agreed to do – having lost income to arbitration or adjudication are seeking to embed themselves in mediation and thus guarantee their pensions.
John Wilding, John Wilding & Co
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