Background

Harry is an accomplished specialist mediator in commercial, civil and property disputes. Ranked as a leading mediator by both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, he is regularly appointed by the UK’s leading law firms to mediate in complex and challenging cases.  

Recent clients include high-profile corporations, a foreign government represented at mediation by its Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General, landowners and occupiers, local government and other public sector organisations, SMEs, shareholders and directors, prominent individuals including sports professionals, community groups, and many others.

Harry practises from IPOS Mediation (click here for more info) and St John’s Chambers and is a Panel Member at London’s internationally recognised Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). He mediates both in person and online across the UK and internationally.

Described recently as “outstanding”, “one of the best”, highly-skilled” and “at the top of his profession”, Harry is regularly commended by parties for his mediation style, and in particular his calming influence and capacity to challenge sensitively but robustly. His consistently excellent feedback, and high settlement rate, speak for themselves.

Harry’s background as a barrister practising for many years from leading chambers, and as the former owner of two successful businesses, gives him a rare insight in the combination of legal and commercial influences that frame disputes.

Harry regularly lectures, coaches and writes about conflict resolution, and is a volunteer member of various professional organisations, including the Commercial Mediation Working Group of the Civil Mediation Council.

Practice

Harry’s mediation practice extends across the commercial, civil and property spectrum. His commercial and civil expertise is extensive and covers:

• boardroom conflict

• contractual disputes

• corporate and shareholder actions

• defamation

• directors and fiduciary duties

• discrimination

• employment disputes

• financial sector litigation

• insurance matters

• international disputes

• mergers & acquisitions

• professional negligence

• share purchase disputes

• wills, probate and 1975 Act disputes

In addition, Harry has extensive expertise in disputes concerning property, land and environmental issues. This includes:

• agriculture & agricultural tenancies

• adverse possession

• boundaries

• construction and development

• easements

• environmental and other regulatory matters

• family farms and estates

• inheritance

• land ownership

• landlord and tenant - a wide range of matters

• licensing

• nuisance

• options

• overage

• planning

• restrictive covenants

• rights of way

• trespass

• water rights

Harry also offers substantial experience in conflict engaging public bodies, whether acting in a regulatory capacity or otherwise.

Clients

Harry mediates for parties from a wide range of sectors, including:

• agriculture and forestry

• aviation

• beneficiaries and other parties in probate disputes

• charities

• crypto-currency

• energy (electricity, renewables, gas, oil)

• education (schools, universities)

• financial services

• foreign national government

• high-profile individuals, including prominent sports professionals

• insurance

• local government

• legal services

• manufacturing, distribution and retail

• media

• medical institutions and professionals, and care

• public and regulatory sector

• real estate, construction and development

• start ups

• tourism, leisure and hotels

• transport and other infrastructure

These parties include domestic and international organisations and individuals, and range from large corporates and foreign national government to SMEs and individuals, shareholders, directors and partners, professionals and landowners, tenants and other occupiers of land, regulators, councils and other public bodies, community groups and other organisations.

Approach

The combination of Harry’s extensive experience as a professional litigator, and as a successful business owner dealing with the commercial realities of negotiation and dispute, puts him in a position that is rare for a mediator-barrister; it means that he is unusually well-placed to understand not only the legal context that frames disputes, but also the commercial and other private influences that lie at their heart. This insight is of particular value in the deal-making environment of mediation.

Fundamental to successful mediation is the need to design and deliver the process around the needs and interests of the parties, and a sensitivity to the evolving dynamic of a negotiation. Harry’s approach is therefore characterised by flexibility, awareness and responsiveness. This is accompanied by a commercial insight that reflects his other career in business, and a sensitivity to the emotional aspects of conflict that he has developed from his work in the challenging community mediation sector. Parties often comment favourably about his mediation style, and in particular the calming nature of his influence in difficult disputes, and his ability to challenge robustly but gently.

Harry is particularly interested in the psychology behind the origins and pattern of conflict, and its effect on negotiation dynamics, and regularly exploits his insights in this field to encourage and maintain progress in mediation.

Harry mediates both in person and online in cases involving parties across the UK and internationally. He is always pleased to arrange the format and start / finish times to reflect geographical and time zone constraints.

Career

Harry is an experienced mediator and barrister, and has owned and run successful businesses.

2016 - present: mediator accredited by CEDR and ADRgroup

2001 - present: barrister

2007 - 2018: founder and director of successful businesses in the energy and drinks sectors

Qualifications & memberships

Accredited mediator, CEDR and ADRgroup 2016

Barrister, called to the Bar 2001

Member of the Civil Mediation Council

Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Member of the Civil Mediation Council’s Working Group on Commercial Mediation

Member of the European Forum for Restorative Justice’s Working Group on Environmental Restorative Justice

Fees

Harry’s fees are by agreement, and designed to reflect the length of the proposed mediation, the complexity of the dispute and the budgetary constraints of the parties.

Please get in touch to discuss fees in detail.