Training and Events

2008 CEDR Awards for Excellence in ADR

CEDR Awards and Dinner:

CEDR hosts its annual social and networking evening on Wednesday 12 November 2008. This prestigious Annual Mediation Dinner and Awards Ceremony entertains the leading organisations and individuals from the legal and ADR world.

We are delighted that judges of this year's Awards - The Master of The Rolls Sir Anthony Clarke, Marina Paul of HBOS, Ruth Grant of Lovells, Michel Kallipetis QC, Jane Player of Bird & Bird, Gerry Lagerberg of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ian Luke of Skanska - will be in attendance.

The venue:

This black tie event will take place at The Renaissance Chancery Court, centrally located in Holborn and a short walk from the shops and theatres of the West End and within easy reach of the City.

This five-star venue has been included the Top 100 Luxury Hotels in the World, set in a historic landmark building.

Entertainment and evening:

The black tie awards dinner, following a champagne reception, will be accompanied by entertainment and the awards!

Further details:

Champagne reception at 7:00pm, dinner to be served at 7:45pm. Tickets cost £150 (+VAT) per ticket. Tables are for eleven people are at a cost of £1500 (+VAT) per table. If you would like to secure your place please email awards@cedr.com or call +44 (0) 20 7536 6000.

Finalists in the awards categories:

Finalists for the awards have been named in the following categories:

- Professions: Eversheds LLP, Herbert Smith LLP, Macmillan & Co, SJ Berwin LLP
- Business: E.ON, Nominet, Travelers Insurance Company
- Sector: Rhys Clift of Hill Dickinson, Her Majesty’s Court Service, Fiona O’Donnell of the University of Dundee
- International: The Centre For Mediation And Law - Russia, Tokiso - South Africa, The World Bank, International Chamber of Commerce
- Publication and article: Developing the Craft of Mediation by Marion Roberts, Expert Determination by John Kendall, Clive Freedman and James Farrell, International Dispute Negotiation pod casts by Michael McIlwrath, Mediation of Construction Disputes by David Richbell
- Innovation: Such was the innovation contained in the entries from all the categories that the judges will pick a winner from all finalists for this award.
- Young Person - The Tony Curtis Award: There will be a special announcement by CEDR on the evening of the Awards Dinner for this category.

What happend at the CEDR Awards for Excellence in 2006:

To give entrants and guests an insight into the 2006 awards please visit the CEDR website. You can read about past winners and why the judges chose them to win their prestigious awards.

ADR in 2008 so far:

Since 1990, effectively the launch point of civil and commercial mediation with England and Wales (as marked by the emergence of both CEDR and the ADR Group), the total value of disputes mediated has risen to £23.5 billion. This represents, in legal and other costs, a combined saving to business, government and individuals of over £6.3 billion. [Source CEDR Mediation Audit 2007]

Since the last awards in 2006, the UK market for mediation services has grown by a further 33 per cent, reflecting an increasing and ever-widening recognition of the role that ADR processes can play. 

This change is also evident on the international scene - with numerous jurisdictions now introducing mediation pilots, and mediators increasingly being called in to help resolve international disputes. Mediation and Conflict Management training has increased immensely, with CEDR alone training 1,200 delegates in 2007 in mediation or conflict skills (600 internationally).

The benefits of ADR are leading different sectors to embrace its use, for example the Gibbon's report last year and the subsequent Employment Bill currently going through Parliament, with its recommendations for mediation.

"It is madness to incur the considerable expense of litigation - in England usually disproportionate to the amount at stake - without making a determined attempt to reach an amicable settlement. The idea that there is only one just result of every dispute, which only the court can deliver is, I believe, often illusory." The Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales, April 2008

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