Resolving Entrenched Child Litigation Part Two: a New Model of Court-Directed Mediation

Neil Robinson, Solicitor, Nowel Meller Solicitors and Director, the Mediation Centre, Stafford. Part one of this article, at [2006] Fam Law 48, looked at intractable disputes from the child's solicitor's point of view. Now the focus shifts to the mediator. Judges emphasise the need for mediation in high conflict cases, but is this just lip service? Do sufficiently robust conflict resolution models and agencies exist? Is it possible to revisit the forms of voluntary, privileged mediation that have developed in the UK over the last two decades (the UK model) and create a new model that combines the consensual and the directive? Whereas part one of the article promoted the introduction of co-operation into the court process, part two looks at direction as part of mediation, by reference to a case study and model. See February [2006] Fam Law 139 for the full article.

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