Always focused on the solution rather than the problem, he has helped settle well over 95% of his entire career caseload (100% as Mediator) and ventured to trial on fewer than 10 occasions, generally on novel questions of law.
Under the aegis of European Justice Forum, John participated, earlier this decade, in the preparation of detailed responses to the EU’s draft Directive on Consumer ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) and draft Regulation on Consumer ODR (Online Dispute Resolution). Further, in May 2014, he addressed a conference in Stuttgart on International Developments in Mediation.
John has routinely been involved in resolving significant, complex and international disputes across many industry sectors including:
- Aerospace
- Agriculture
- Aviation
- Banking & Financial Services
- Chemical
- Computer
- Construction
- Energy
- Food
- Healthcare
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Mass Media
- Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences
- Property
- Telecommunications
- Transport
- Water
- Waste
Irrespective of the substantive nature of a dispute, whether involving shareholder or partnership disputes, bankruptcy proceedings, commercial agency and distribution agreement issues, group actions, warranty claims, IP litigation, regulatory challenges, cartel abuse actions, claims for specific performance and/or damages, to name but a few, John’s approach is invariably pragmatic and commercial and has seen him repeatedly recognised by peers and in publications, for example:
- recognised for his Commercial Litigation expertise in the inaugural 2013 edition of the “Super Lawyers Magazine” for London
- listed as a “Highly Recommended Life Sciences Practitioner in England” in Practical Law Company’s Global Counsel 3000
- acknowledged in every edition (up to 2013) of “An International Who’s Who of Product Liability Defence Lawyers”
- nominated, with colleagues, for the 1999 Legal Business “Litigation Team of the Year” award
- elected to the Board (1998 to 2001) of the 2500 member International Association of Defense Counsel
John’s participation, some ten to fifteen years ago, in efforts to procure Federal Mogul’s exit from US Chapter 11 and parallel Administration proceedings in the UK, provided him with a unique opportunity to assess the efficacy of Professor Francis McGovern’s involvement as a court-appointed Mediator charged with resolving differences between creditor constituencies who were very much in conflict. The resolution of seemingly irreconcilable differences through Professor McGovern’s protracted, detailed and arms-length involvement helped reinforce John’s long-standing belief that all disputes, no matter how difficult or complex, are necessarily capable of a negotiated or a mediated solution, a belief so far borne out through a 100% success rate as Mediator.
Subject to confidentiality constraints, a detailed CV, tailored so as to be relevant to the specific subject-matter and demands of any proposed Mediation, can be distributed on request.
