Heather Allen

Heather has been a commercial mediator since 1994 - it is hard to give up such satisfying work! She was Head of CEDR Training Faculty from 2005-2018. As a member of the CEDR panel, she mediates regularly. Her hands-on business experience combined with a legal qualification enables her to cover a wide range of cases including employment, shareholder, property, and commercial contract disputes. She is a Leading Mediator on CEDR’s panel for clinical negligence disputes. Described in an edition of Chambers and Partners as "a winning combination of insight and pragmatism", her style as a mediator is empathetic and practical - based on her understanding of the pressures of all kinds that accompany a business dispute and compassion for those whose lives are adversely affected. She sometimes handles sensitive cases, sometimes between Board members or colleagues in-house, where differences of culture and/or perceived power imbalance make productive conversations more difficult. Heather enjoys contributing to CEDR projects worldwide, including in Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, the USA, Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. It is particularly satisfying to form local training teams of mediators in other jurisdictions who then take forward the development of mediation in their own language and context. The mutual benefit of a global network of colleagues and mediators is invaluable to us all.